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J LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 
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UNITED STATES OP AMERICA, t 



THE 



Hymn of Hildebert 



AND OTHER 



MEDIAEVAL HYMNS 



WITH TRANSLATIONS 



BY ERASTUS C. BENEDICT 






A NEW AND ENLARGED EDITION 



NEW YORK 
ANSON D. F. RANDOLPH & CO 

1869 









Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1869, by 

ANSON D. F. EANDOLPH & CO., 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the 
District of New York. 



Bradstreet Press. 



PKEFAOE 



These translations have been the agreeable labor of 
occasional honrs of leisure. Several of them have at 
different times, during the last fifteen years, appeared in 
public journals, literary and religious, and the favorable 
mention made of some of them has induced me to collect 
those which have been published, and to add some others, 
including the Hymn of Hildebert to the Trinity. Of some 
of them, previous translations are numerous and excel- 
lent. 

In making this selection, my aim has been to bring 
together such a variety of hymns and topics as should, in 
small compass, exhibit the evangelical faith and character 
of those eminent and devout men, whose light shone so 
purely in that period of Christianity which we call the 
Middle Ages ; their ideas of God and his attributes, of 
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit ; their knowledge 
of the Scriptures; their exhaustive treatment of their 
topics, and their modes of thought and expression, so 



IV PREFACE. 

simple and unpretentious. I was also especially influ- 
enced by a desire to exhibit that oneness of evangelical 
faith, and that Christian union in the great characteristic 
and essential elements of our holy religion, which enables 
us to acknowledge our brotherhood with these simple- 
minded, cultivated, and sanctified men, who devoted their 
lives to religion as it was presented by the Saviour and 
his sacred family, and their early successors, appealing to 
the heart instead of to the senses, and manifesting itself 
in great but simple and intelligible truths, and not in 
forms and rites, and ceremonies and vestments. I make 
little account of the fact that they may have believed 
something which I cannot believe, and may have used a 
ritual and liturgy which I disapprove. I never stop to 
think that the authors of the "Imitation of Christ," of the 
"Holy Living and Dying," of the "Pilgrim's Progress," 
held to points of faith, and used rites and modes of worship 
different from mine, any more than I do that the holy 
apostles themselves, who were with the Lord continually, 
and listened to those daily teachings which drew such 
crowds of hearers, and who saw all his miracles, were, 
even after the resurrection, still ignorant of the nature 
of his kingdom, of his sacrifice, and of his great salva- 
tion. 

I make no apology for the simplicity and naturalness 
of these translations. It would have been less laborious 



PREFACE. V 

and difficult, to make translations which, to certain tastes, 
would have been more agreeable, and would have seemed 
more poetical — expanded paraphrases — English hymns 
founded upon the Latin ones, intensified by epithets and 
ornamented with imagery. My own taste, however, 
found a great charm in the great simplicity and brevity 
of the originals, and I preferred to translate those striking 
qualities. I have accordingly kept the English version 
within the length of the Latin original, and have en- 
deavored to perform this task, certainly difficult, and 
sometimes said to be impossible, without sacrificing ease 
in versification, or the meaning and spirit of the original. 
How far I have succeeded must be left to the judgment 
of others. 

In most cases also I have adopted the stanza and 
measure of the original, and the double rhymes and dac- 
tylic terminations so common with those Latin hymnolo- 
gists. I do not share the opinion sometimes expressed, 
that in our language such rhymes are inconsistent with 
the dignity, gravity, and tenderness which may be ex- 
pressed by them in Latin, and without which sacred 
hymns would lose their character. To this opinion, per- 
haps, may be attributed the fact, that in the English 
version of the psalms by Dr. Watts, there are no double 
rhymes, except three couplets in his translation of tho 
Fiftieth Psalm, and in the versions of Tate and Brady, 



VI PREFACE. 

and of Sternhold and Hopkins none, and that the earlier 
translations of the Dies Irce were made in single rhyme. 
Many of the more recent ones, however, are made with 
double rhyme, and I apprehend that the opinion is now 
general that the true spirit and solemnity of that great 
hymn are better exhibited in some of the double rhyme 
translations than they are in any others. When the line 
is trochaic, the trochaic ending preserves, instead of im- 
pairing, the tone and feeling of the lines — which may be 
expressive of any sentiment, however grave or tender. 
Many of the sweetest and most devotional hymns in our 
language, are in double rhyme, and I need refer only to 
the grace and dignity, as well as tenderness and strength, 
with which Wesley and Heber and others, use the double 
rhyme, to show the truth of these remarks. I am, 
indeed, by no means certain that the double rhyme may 
not in the end, prove to be the higher and better style of 
versification and rhythm. I incline to the belief that 
there is in it a more graceful cadence, a more flowing and 
easy transition, and a more unbroken harmony, than in 
the sometimes crisp and sharp ending of the single rhyme. 
• : It is surprising that Milton, who used rhyme with ad- 
mirable skill, should speak of it as the invention of a 
barbarous age, to set off wretched matter and lame metre. 
In the universality of rhyme, as in the further fact that it 
is peculiar neither to the rudeness of an early and bar- 



PREFACE. Vll 

barons age, nor to the over-refined ingenuity of a late 
and artificial one, but runs through whole literatures, we 
find its best defence, and the evidence that it lies deep in 
our human nature, since otherwise so many peoples 
would not have lighted upon it, or so inflexibly main- 
tained it ; for no people has ever adopted an accentual 
rhythm without also adopting rhyme, which only in weak 
and indistinct beginnings makes its first appearance, and 
with advancing refinement, poetical cultivation, and per- 
fection of language, rises to its highest excellence. It 
has been well said, that rhyme, well managed, is one of 
the most pleasing of all inventions for entertaining the 
mind — constantly raising expectation, and as often satis- 
fying it. The ear anticipates the sound without knowing 
what the sound would express. This expectation and its 
gratification are a constant pleasure, different from that 
conveyed by the thought, but always playing about it, 
and in harmony with it — like music, adorning and intensi- 
fying it. It is hardly to be believed that the classical 
versification could be native or vernacular to any people, 
and it is not more easy to believe, that if it had been 
natural to the Eomans, it would have so easily retired 
before that rhythmical versification which supplanted it. 
It is worthy of remark, in this connection, that all those 
peoples, which in our day are spoken of as the Latin race, 
to distinguish them from the Gothic and Sclavic races, 



Vlll PREFACE. 

have their poetical literature characterized by rhythmical 
and accentual versification and by rhyme, and that the 
metres of Virgil and Horace and Catullus have given 
place to rhyme and accent, even in the Italian peninsula. 

Of some of these hymns (some, indeed, which have 
been better translated by others) I have made more 
than one translation. Without assigning any satisfac- 
tory reason why I should thus be willing to come into 
comparison with others of established reputation, I may 
say that the reason which would induce me to make one 
translation might well induce me to make several — differ- 
ent tastes being gratified by various forms of presenting 
the same thoughts. As to the translations of the Dies 
Irce, I will also say that the second in order was published 
many years ago, before the thought of using English 
double rhyme for so serious a purpose, had entered my 
mind. The third was afterwards written in double rhyme, 
and, finally, the other was the result of an attempt to use 
nothing but the Gothic-English language, discarding en- 
tirely the use of Latin derivatives. This one being more 
agreeable to my taste, I have given it the first place. 

All these early Latin hymns were written before the 
invention of printing, and copies were often taken down 
from memory or learned from oral tradition, which, doubt- 
less, furnishes the reason why, sometimes, one or more 
stanzas are omitted in some copies, and why the arrange- 



PREFACE. IX 

merit of the stanzas differs, in different copies of the same 
hymn. I have followed what seemed to me the best 
authority for the text, and I have not hesitated to adopt 
the arrangement of the stanzas which seemed to me the 
most forcible and beautiful. In like manner I have also 
substituted a word and changed the arrangement of words 
in a line, where the rhythm so plainly demanded it as to 
compel the belief that such was the author's arrange- 
ment. 

I have preceded most of the hymns with a brief sketch 
of the supposed author, or a sort of argument of the 
hymn, or brief commentary upon it. I am, however, 
far from believing that the authorship of them is thus 
attributed on sufficient evidence in all cases. There is 
hardly one that has not been attributed, with equal confi- 
dence, to more than one author, and there are few of them 
whose authorship can be considered as settled, on evidence. 

A word more as to the thread by which these hymns 
are here connected — so slight that, perhaps, it might not 
be perceived, unless it were pointed out. The Christian 
faith, life, and hope, founded upon the being and attri- 
butes of God; the birth, teachings, sufferings, death, 
resurrection, ascension, and commemoration of our Lord, 
and the gift of the Holy Spirit, are exhibited in the 
order which I have adopted, while the doctrines of faith 
and grace, and the spirit of devotion, animate the whole. 



X PREFACE. 

The careful and learned remarks of the Rev. Dr. Wil- 
liams in his ''Miscellanies," p. 72, of Dr. Coles in his 
"Dies Irse," of Dr. Schaff in his "New Stabat Mater," 
of Dr. Neale in his " Medieval Hymns," and, above all, 
the Preface, Introduction, and notes of Archbishop 
Trench in his "Sacred Latin Poetry," are worthy of 
careful study by all who desire to be informed on the 
subject of Latin hymnology. I have read them with 
the greatest interest, and have borrowed much from them, 
as well in this preface as elsewhere, for which I desire 
to make this acknowledgment, because I have almost 
always neglected to do so in the text of my remarks. 



TABLE OF HYMNS. 



Alpha et ft, magne Deus 


2 


Astant angelorum chori - 


- 122 


Apparebit repentina dies magna - 


34 


Cur mundus militat 


- 28 


Dies Tree, dies ilia 


110 


Ecquis binas columbinas 


- 58 


Gravi me terrore pulsas 


128 


Hceres peccati, natura filius tree 


- 100 


Heri mundus exultavit 


102 


Jam moesta quiesce querela 


- 140 


Lauda, Sion, Salvatorem - 


92 


Pange, lingua, gloriosi • 


- 54 


Parendum est, cedendum est 


132 


Portas vestras atternales 


- 80 


Si vis vere ghriari - 


70 


Stabat Mater dolorosa 


- 64 


N - Stabat Mater speeiosa 


20 


Vent, creator Spiritus ... 


- 41 


Vent, sancte Spiritus - 


86 


Victims Paschali laudes 


- 78 



INDEX 



Abbey of St. Victor, 98. 

Adam of St. Victor, 76, 98. 

Agnes, Mount St., 121. 

Alpha et £2, Magne Deus, 2. 

Ambrose, 42. 

Angel choirs ori high, 123. 

An heir of sin, 101. 

Apparebit repentina dies, 34. 

Aquinas, Thomas, 52, 75, 90. 

Ascension, 80. 

Astant angelorum chori, 122. 

At the last, the great day, 35. 

Beautiful his mother standing, 21. 

Beautiful mother, 21. 

Bede, 32. 

Benedette, 18. 

Benedictis, 18. 

Bernard, 26. 

Bertin, St., 85. 

Be still the voice, 141. 

Campen, 121. 

Celano, Thomas de, 109 

Charlemagne, 42. 

Christians, raise, 79. 

Classical versification, 74. 

Clichtoveus, 84, 85. 

Coles, Dr., x. 

Comforter denominated, 7. 

Come, thou Spirit, 50. 

Communion, 52, 90, 93. 

Contemptu Mundi, 26, 28. 

Corona spinea, 70. 

Crown of thorns, 70. 

Crucifixion, 58. 



Cur mundus militat. 18, 28. 

Cygnus Exspirans, 127, 132. 

Damiani, 126. 

Day of death, 129. 

Day of judgment, 32, 35. 

Day of threatened wrath, 111. 

Day of wrath, that final day, 116. 

Day of wrath, 118. 

De die judicii. 34. 

De die mortis, 127, 129. 

Deventer, 121. 

Deus, 12. . 

Dies Iras, 32, 108, 110, 116, 118. 

Doctor Angelicus, 52. 

Doctor Melhfluus, 43. 

Doctor Mellitissimus, 43. 

Dramatic hymn, 77. 

Dying swan, 133. 

Easter hymn, 74, 78. 

Ecquis binas columbinas, 58. 

Epitaph of Adam, 100. 

Father, 3. 

Father, God, my God, 3. 

Feckenham, 53. 

Fides orthodoxa, 1, 8. 

Frangipani, 75. 

Funeral Hymn, 141. 

G-iacomo, 18. 

G-iacopone, 18. 

God, 13. 

Goethe, 108. 

Gravi me terrore, 128. 

Grey, Lady Jane. 53. 

Haeres peccati, 1 00. 



INDEX. 



Xlll 



Hamerken, 121. 

Heaven, 15, 123. 

Heri mundus, 102. 

Hermanns, 75, 84. 

Hildebert, 1, 2. 

Holy Spirit, 6. 

Holy Spirit from above. 87. 

Imitation of Christ, 121. 

I must obey, 133. 

In exequiis, 140. 

Innocent III., Pope, 84. 

Jacobus de Benedictis, 18. 

Jacopone, 18. 

Jam quiesce, 140. 

Joys of heaven, 123. 

Judgment, 32. 

Kempis, Thomas a, 121. 

Last Supper, 52. 

Lavardin, 1. 

Lauda Sion salvatorem, 75. 00,92. 

Lord's Supper, 90. 

Malabranca, 75. 

Mater dolorosa, 18, 62, 99. 

Mater speciosa, 18, 20. 

Milton, vi. 

Mount' St. Agnes, 121. 

Nate Patri cosequalis, 4. 

Nativity, 19. 

Neale, Dr., x. 

Notker, 75. 85. 

Oh, had it the wings, 58. 

Oratio ad Filium, 4. 

Oratio ad Pairem, 2. 

Oratio ad Spiritum, G. 

Oratio ad Trinitatem, 2. 

Over-Yssel, 121. 

Pange lingua gloriosi, 52, 54, 90. 

Parendum est, 132. 

Paracletus increatus, 6. 

Passion, 58. 

Passover, 75. 

Pentecost, 42, 75, 84. 

Portas vestras asternales, 80. 



Proses, 74, 75. 

Prudentius, 138. 

Raise the everlasting gates, 81. 

Real presence, 53, 91. 

Resurrection, 78. 

Rhyme, v., vi., vii., 75, 76. 

Rhythm, vi., vii., 74. 

Robert II., 75, 84. 

Sacrament, 52, 90, 91. 

Schaff. Dr., x., 19, 63. 

Sequence, Sequentia, 74. 

Sing, my tongue, the theme, 55. 

Sion, 14. 

Si vis vere gloriari, 70. 

Son, 4. 

Spirit, creative, power divine. 48. 

Spirit, heavenly life, 45. 

Spirit, Holy, 6, 42 to 50, 84 to 87. 

Stabat Mater dolorosa, 62, 99. 

Stabat Mater speciosa, 18, 19, 20. 

St. Agnes, Mount, 121. 

St. Bertin, 85. 

Stephen, 99, 102. 

Thomas Aquinas, 52. 

Thomas of Celano, 109. 

Thomas a Kempis, 121. 

Transubstantiation, 52. 

Trench, x., 26. 

Trinity, 1, 2, 122. 

Tusser, 26. 

Urban IV., 52. 

Yeni, creator Spiritus, 42, 48, 50. 

Yeni, sancte Spiritus, 84, 87. 

Victimse Paschali laudes, 74, 78 

Yictor, St., 98. 

Walter Scott, 108. 

Weeping stood his mother, 65. 

Why does the world serve, 29. 

Williams, Dr., x. 

With terror thou dost, 129. 

Would st thy spirit glory, 7 1 . 

Yesterday the world, elated, 103. 

Zion, praise thine interceder, 93. 



MEDIAEVAL HYMNS 



HILDEBERT 



Hildebert de Lavardin was a Frenchman. He was 
born in 1057 and was educated in the highest scholarship 
and culture of his time, having studied under Beranger 
and St. Hugh of Cluny whose life he wrote. He was 
consecrated Bishop of Mans in 1097, and in 1125 became 
Archbishop of Tours and was one of the great ornaments 
of the French Koman Catholic Church. All the authors 
of that period speak in his praise. It was commonly said 
of him, 

Inclytus et prosa versuque per omnia primus, 
Hildebertus olet prorsus ubique rosam. 

His Hymn to the Trinity is every way worthy of him. 
It is characterized, equally, by harmony and grace and 
by sententious brevity. Its fullness and discrimination 
as a theological essay and its easy and familiar use of 
Scriptural allusion, are quite as remarkable as its gentle 
spirit of devotion and its poetical animation, in which it 
has been said to equal the very best productions which 
Latin Christian poetry can anywhere boast. 

The Poem has a sort of epic completeness ; its Begin- 
ning — the knowledge of God — Fides orthodoxa — the true 
creed, as to the Three Persons of the Holy Trinity — ex- 
hibiting their attributes, as the foundation of the Christian 
character ; its Middle — the weakness, the trials and the 
temptations of the Christian life, in its progress to perfect 
trust and confidence in God and assurance of His final 
grace; its End — the joys and glories of the Heavenly 
Home of the blessed. 

1 



HILDEBERTI HYMNUS. 



ORATIO DEVOTISSIMA 

AD TRES PERSONAS SANCTISSIMjE TRINITATJS. 



AD PATREM. 

Elplja et Q, magne Heus ! 
3Elt ! 3EU ! ©eus meus — 
(Cuius btrtus, totum posse; 
(STujus sensus, totum nosse ; 
(&ujus esse, summum oonum ; 
<£ujus opus, pteciuitr oonum. 

JE>uper euneta, suttee euneta ; 
lErtra euneta, intra euneta. 

Jntra euneta, nee inclusus ; 
lErtra euneta, nee exelusus ; 
j£>uper euneta, nee elatus ; 
gutter euneta, nee suostratus. 

j&uper totus, pt^stoentro ; 
puttee totus, sustinentro ; 
2Srtra totus, eotnplectenoo ; 
Jntra totus es, implenoo. 

Jntra, nunquam coaretarts ; 



HYMN OF HILDEBERT. 



An Address to the Three Persons of the most Holt 

Trinity. 



TO THE FATHER. 

Father, God, my God, all seeing! 
Alpha and Omega being — 
Thou whose power no limit showeth 
Thou whose wisdom all things knoweth, 
God all good beyond comparing — 
God of love for mortals caring — 

Over, under, all abounding, 
In and out and all surrounding — 

Inside all, yet not included, 
Outside all, yet not excluded, 
Over all, yet not elated, 
Under all, yet not abated — 

Thou above — Thy power ordaining — 
Thou beneath — Thy strength sustaining- 
Thou without — the whole embracing — 
Thou within — Thy fullness gracing. 

Thee within, no power constraineth — 



HILDEBERTI HYMNUS. 

3Extca, nunquam trilataris. 
j&uper, nuUo sustentaris ; 
gutter, nullo fattgaris. 

Jftuntrum mobens, non moberis; 
ILocum tenens, non teneris ; 
©empus mutans, non mutatis ; 
Uaga nrmans, non bagaris. 
V\# externa, bel necesse, 
j^on attentat tuttm esse. 

f^eri nostrum, eras et prtoem, 
temper tibi nunc et toem. 
®uum, 2ieus, tjooiernum 
JJnoibisum, sempiternum ; 
Jn ijoc, totum prsebitristi, 
©otum simul pertecisti 
an exemplar summ$ mentis, 
dormant pr&stans dementis. 

AD FILIUM. 

i^ate, ^atrl coa^ualis, 
$atri consubstanttalis, 
Harris splentror, et ngura, 
jfactor (actus creatura, 
Carnem nostram intiutstt, 
(ttausam nostram suscepisti. 

gempiternus, temporalis; 
jftloriturus, immortalis ; 
Uerus ijomo, bcrus Beus ; 
^mpermixtus |^omo=29eus. 



HYMN OF HILDEBERT. 

Thou without, no freedom gaineth — 
Over all. Thee none sustaineth, 
Under all, no burden paineth. 

Moving all, no change Thou knowest — 
Holding fast, Thou freely goest. 
Changing time, Thou art unchanging 
Thou the fickle all arranging. 
Force and fate whichever showing 
Are but footsteps of Thy going, 
Past and future to us, ever 
Are to Thee but now forever. 
Thy to-day, with Thee abiding 
Endless is, no change dividing — 
Thou, in it, at once foreseeing 
All things, by Thee perfect being, 
Like the plan Thy mind completed. 
When creation first was meted 

TO THE SON. 

Son, the Father's equal ever, 
From His substance changing never, 
Like in brightness and in feature, 
Though creator, still a creature, 
Thou our human body worest 
Our redemption too Thou borest 

Endless, still Thy time declaring, 
Deathless, though Thy death preparing, 
Man, and God, divided never, 
Thou Man-God, unmixed forever, 



HILDEBERTI HTMNUS. 

j^on eonbersms fjte in earnem, 
Jtec minutus propter earnem ; 
fflii assmnptus est in Beum, 
$,ec consnmptus propter Heum ; 
patri compar oeitate, 
i&ltttor earnts beritate. 
©eus pater tantum 29 et, 
Uirgo mater est, setr Bet. 

Jn tarn noba Ugatura 
j£ie utrape stat natura, 
Sit eonserbet qtiieciuiir erat, 
4Faeta tjuttitram quotr won erat. 

poster tete iftteiriator, 
Jste noster legis fcator ; 
(ttireumeisus, oaptijatus, 
Crueinrus, tumulatus, 
©btiormibit, et oeseentrit, 
Itesurrerit, et aseenoit ; 
j$ie air etelos elebatus, 
Jutrieaoit juoieatus. 

AD SPIRITUM. 

^araeletus, inereatuss, 
iBtepe taetus, neane nattis, 
ftatri consors genitoque, 
jgnc proeeoit ao utroque, 
Ifie sit minor potentate, 
^ee oiseretus qualitatc. 
<©uanti illi, tantus iste ; 



HYMN OF HILDEBERT. 

God is not to flesh converted, 
Nor by flesh the God perverted — 
God in human form appearing, 
Never human weakness fearing — 
With the Father equal being 
Fleshly weakness disagreeing, 
God the God begetting solely, 
Virgin both conceiving wholly. 

In this union, thus created, 
Both the natures there are mated, 
Each its own existence taking, 
Both a new existence making. 

He, alone our Interceder, 
Our Lawgiver and our Leader, 
He the law and Gospel heeded, 
To the cross and grave proceeded, 
There He slept and there descended, 
There He rose and then ascended. 
Judged on earth — in heaven He liveth, 
And the world its judgment giveth. 

TO THE HOLY SPIRIT. 

Comforter, denominated, 
Never born and not created, 
Both the Son and Father knowing — 
Spirit from them both outgoing, 
Thus in power their equal being 
And in quality agreeing, 
Great as they, He still remaineth, 



8 HILDEBERTI HYMNUS. 

(JHuales mi, talis iste ; 
3Er quo tilt, zx tunc iste; 
(Quantum illi, tantum iste. 

pater alter, setr gignenou ; 
jfratus alter, scu nascenfco ; 
jFlamen, at ijis proceotniro ; 
©res sunt unum, subsistence, 
(©uisque trium glenus Ileus; 
fww tres tauten Bt, setr Heus: 
Jn ijoe 23 eo, 31 eo bero, 
&res et unum assebero ; 
31ans usia? unitatem, 
3Et personis trinitatem. 

Jn personis, nulla prior, 
$,ulla major, nulla minor; 
Bnapaque semper ipsa, 
j£ic est eonstans atque nra, 
©t nee in se barietur, 
3£,ec in ulla transmutetur. 

f^ac est fifties ortfyottora, 
iBton i)ie error sine nora, 
£5icut oico, sie et creoo, 
iBtec in prabam partem eetro : 
Jnbt benit, bone ©eus, 
lie orsperem, ciuambis reus, 
ifteus mortis, non orspero, 
£efc in morte bitam quaro. 
<®uo te plaeem, nil pratentro 



HYMN OF HILDEBERT. 

All their goodness, he retaineth, 
With them from the first existing, 
All their power in him subsisting. 

Father He begetting showeth, 
Son, from human birth He groweth, 
Spirit, from them both outflowing, 
They are one, the Godhead showing. 
Each is God, in fullness ever, 
All are God and three Gods never. 
In this God, true God completing, 
Three in one, are ever meeting, 
Unity in substance showing, 
Trinity in persons knowing. 

Of the persons none is greater, 
Neither less and neither later, 
Each one still itself retaining, 
Fixed and constant still remaining, 
In itself no variation, 
Neither change, nor transmutation. 

This is true faith, for our keeping. 
Error bringeth sin and weeping — 
As I teach it, I believe it, 
Nor for other will I leave it. 
Trusting Lord thy goodness ever 
Though I sin, I hope forever. 
Worthy death, but not despairing, 
By my death, my life preparing. 
When I please thee, nothing showing 
2 



IO HILDEBEliil HYMNUS. 

|lisi tftrem quam ostenoo. 
Jfitrem bitres,— Ijanc tmploro, 
ILeba tascem quo laboro ; 
^et ijoc sacrum cataplasma 
Olonbalescat agrum plasma. 

ISxtta portam jam trelatum, 
3am ftctentem, tumulatum, 
Uttta ligat, lapis urget ; 
J5eti si jutes, ijic resurget. 
Jube! lapis rebolbetur, 
Jube! bitta turumpetur;— 
lExiturus nescit moras, 
^ostquam clamas "ISri foras!" 

Jn ijoc salo, mea ratis 
Jnfestatur a piratis: 
$Hnc assultus, inoe ductus; 
f^inc ct intre, mors ct luctus; 
g?eo tu, bone nauta, beni; 
3|reme bentos, mare leni; 
,lFac abscetrant iji pirate, 
3Buc a*r portum, salba rate. 

Jnftecunoa mea ncus; 
<£ujus ramus, ramus siccus, 
Jnctoetur, incentretur, 
Sbi promulgas quotr meretur. 
£etr ijoc anno oimittatur, 
j£tercoretur, fooiatur; 
<©uotr si necoum responoebit,— 
J^lens ijoc loquor— tunc artrebit. 



HYMN OF HILDEBERT. I I 

But the faith on Thee bestowing. 
Hear my prayer, my faith perceiving, 
From my burden, me relieving — 
Here, my sickness now revealing, 
Let Thy med'cine be my healing. 

Now, without the city taken, 
Dead, offensive and forsaken, 
Grave clothes bind, the stone confineth — 
At Thy word the grave resigneth — 
Speak ! the stone away is rolling — 
Speak ! the shroud no more controlling — 
When " Come forth" Thy summons sayeth, 
Then at once the dead obeyeth. 

On this sea of troubles resting 
Pirates are my bark infesting — 
Strifes, temptations, billows sweeping, 
Everywhere are death and weeping, 
Come, Good Pilot, calm proclaiming, 
Hush the winds, the billows taming, 
Drive these pirates to their hiding, 
Safe to port my vessel guiding. 

My unfruitful fig tree growing, 
Dry and withered branches showing, 
Should'st Thou judge, the truth discerning. 
Thou would'st give unto the burning — 
But another season bless it, 
Dig about it, Lord, and dress it, 
If it then no fruit returneth, 
I will praise Thee while it burneth. 



1 2 HILDEBER TI HTMNUS. 

l^etus fjostis in me turit, 
&ouis mersat, ttammis urit; 
Jntre languens, et atetictuss, 
&ibi soli sum delictus. 
St innrmus eonbaleseat, 
Bt f)tc ijostis ebanescat, 
©u birtutem jejunanfti, 
23es innrmo, ties orantri; 
^tx lja>e fcuo, <£ijristo teste, 
Hiberabor aft ijac peste. 
&fc tjac peste sotbe mentem, 
,iPac trebotum, pcenitentem; 
Ba timorem, auo projeeto, 
Be salute nil eonjeeto; 
23a uirem, spent, earitatem; 
Ba triscretam pietatem; 
3Ba eontemptum terrenorum, 
Eppetitum supernorum. 

Eotum, Beus, in te spero, 
Beus, ex te totum au&ro;— 
Su laus mea, meum bonum; 
iftlea cuneta tuum tronum. 
&u solamen in labore; 
iEetiicamen in languore; 
©u in luetu mea Inra, 
&u lenimen es in ira; 
3Tu in areto liberator; 
®u in lapsu relebator: 



HYMN OF HILDEBERT. 1 3 

Me the Evil one possessing, 
Flames and floods by turns oppressing, 
Feeble, sick and helpless lying, 
To thy grace, my soul is flying. 
That my weakness all may vanish, 
Thou the evil spirit banish. 
Teach me Lord, my weakness staying, 
Grace of fasting and of praying, 
This alone, the Savior telleth, 
Such a demon e'er expelleth. 
Thou my sickened sense restoring — 
Faith and penitence imploring — 
Give me fear which, once ejected, 
Leaves salvation all perfected. 
Faith and hope and love conferring, 
Give me piety, unerring, 
Earthly joys forever spurning, 
Heavenward still my footsteps turning. 

> 

God, in Thee, all things desiring, 
From Thee, every thing requiring — 
Thou my praise, my good abiding, 
All I have, Thy gift providing — 
In fatigue, Thy solace feeling, 
In my sickness, Thou my healing, 
Thou, my harp, my grief assuaging, 
Thou who soothest all my raging, 
Thou who freest my enthralling, 
Thou who raisest me when falling, 



1 4 HILDEBERTI HYMNVS. 

iHotum pra>stas in probeetu; 
j£pem eonserbas in tietectu; 
3i pis la^Utt, tu repenois; 
g>f minatur tu otfentris ; 
<©uoTr est aneeps, tu oissolbis; 
<®uotr tegentrum, tu inbolbis. 

£u intrare me non sinas 
Jnfernales om'einas, 
SJbi trneror, ubi metus; 
©bifcetor, ubifletus; 
WLU probra oeteguntur, 
WlM ret eonfunountur, 
WLbi tortor semper eatrens, 
23bi bermis semper etrens;— 
©bi totum toe perenne, 
<©uia perpes mors geljenn&. 

fflt reeeptet gion ilia, 
j£ion, ©abio urbs tranauilla, 
atujus faber, auetor iueis ; 
(tfujus porta*, lignum erueis; 
OTufus elabes, lingua $etri; 
€ujus eibes, semper lati; 
(tfujus muri, lapis bibus; 
©ujus eustos, 3£tex festibus. 

Jn Ijae urbe, lux solemnis; 
Uer sternum, par perennis; 
3in ijae, otror implens etelos, 
Jn ijae, semper festum melos. 



HYMN OF H1LDEBERT. I 5 

'Tis Thy grace my footsteps guideth 
Strengthening hope, when it subsideth. 
None would hurt, but Thou forefendest, 
Who may threaten, Thou defendest, 
What is doubtful, Thou revealest, 
What is myst'ry, Thou concealest. 

Never, Lord, with Thy permission, 
Let me enter in perdition, 
Where is fear and where is wailing, 
Shame and weeping unavailing, 
Every loathsome thing displaying, 
In confusion, disarraying, 
Where the fierce tormentor lieth, 
And the worm that never dieth, 
Where this endless woe, infernal, 
Maketh death and hell eternal. 

Let me be in Sion savdd, 
Sion, peaceful home of David, 
Built by Him, the light who maketh, 
And the cross for portals taketh — 
And for keys the welcome given 
By the joyful saints in Heaven — 
Walls of living stone erected, 
By the Prince of joy protected — 
Where the light, that God is sending, 
Endless spring and peace are blending. 
Perfume, every breeze is bearing, 
Festive strains the joy declaring. 



1 6 HILDEBERTI HTMNUS. 

$ton est ttu eorruptela, 
i^ott oefeetus, non querela, 
i^on minuti, non oetormes — 
^mnes <£ijristo sunt eontormes. 

©rbs ctelestis! urbs beata! 
JSuper petram eolloeata;— 
ffitrbs in portu satis tuto, 
Be longinquo, te saluto;— 
©e saluto, te suspiro, 
®e affeeto, te require. 

(Quantum tui gratulantur, 
(Qtuam testibe ronbibantur; 
<©uis affectus eos stringat, 
&ut p# gemma muros pingat, 
(®uis eljaleetron, quis jaenntijus,- 
iBtorunt illi qui sunt intus. 

3n platets ijujus urbts, 
j&oeiatus pits turbis, 
<£um Iftogse et ISlija 
^ium eantem f^alleluia! 



HYMN OF HILDEBERT. I J 

No corruption there appeareth, 
None defect, or sorrow feareth, 
None deformed or dwarfed remaining, 
All the form of Christ retaining. 

Heavenly City ! happy dwelling ! 
Built upon that stone excelling. 
City safe in heavenly keeping 
Hail ! in distant glory sleeping ! 
Thee I hail, for thee am sighing — 
Thee I love, for thee am dying. 

How thy heavenly hosts are singing — 
And their festive voices ringing — 
What the love their souls conforming — 
What the gems the walls adorning — 
Chalcedon and jacinth shining 
Know they all, those walls confining. 

In that City's glorious meeting, 
Moses and Blias greeting — 
Holy prophets gone before us — 
Let me sing the heavenly chorus. 



i8 



JACOBUS DE BENEDICTIS. 



Jacobus de Benedictis. sometimes called Giacomo 
da Todi, sometimes Giacomo de Benedetti, but more fre- 
quently Giacopone, or Jacopone, was an Italian lawyer, 
of the noble family of the Benedetti, at Todi. The sudden 
death of his wife at the Theatre, impressed him so power- 
fully, that he abandoned his successful practice of the 
law, sold what he had and gave it to the poor, and joined 
the then young and popular order of the Franciscans and 
devoted himself to a life of religious austerity. He was 
extravagant and, if not insane, was sometimes ridiculous 
in his conduct — in the language of his epitaph "Stultus 
propter Christum." He attacked with great severity the 
priestly abuses of his time, for which he suffered a living 
martyrdom, in the prisons of a bad pope, from which he 
was finally released. The date of his birth is unknown. 
He died on Christmas day, 1306, at a great age. 

The three poems which I have embraced in this volume, 
as his, the Mater Speciosa, the Mater Dolorosa and the 
Cur Mundus, if correctly attributed to him, fully estab- 
lish his rank as a poet of the greatest merit — and one of 
them, the Stabat Mater Dolorosa, has been admired be- 
yond any other Latin Hymn, except the unapproachable 
Dies Irce. The Mater Speciosa, is here placed before the 
Mater Dolorosa, not because I suppose with Dr. Neale that 
it was the first written, as I do not, but because, in the 



J A GOB US BE BENEDICTIS. 1 9 

arrangement which I have adopted, a Hymn of the Nativity 
should precede one of the Passion. If it had stood alone, 
or even had it been the first written, it would not have 
been left to our day to announce its beauties. It seems 
to me to bear to the Mater Dolorosa, something like the 
relation of a copy to an original, and thus the excellence 
and freshness of the original may have kept out of sight the 
copy, with all its merit, until recent discovery has placed 
it by the side of its more distinguished sister — if indeed 
they be by the same author. It is not impossible that the 
original of the two may have been written by one of the 
eminent men, earlier than Jacopone, to whom it has been 
attributed and that the other was but a later imitation. 

Those early monks and priests who were really devoted 
to religion for its own sake and who lived ages before the 
art of printing, had but few books and of those the Bible 
was the chief, and their study of it gave them the famili- 
arity with its sacred words, which is so conspicuous in 
their writings. In this poem, Jacopone while he fully per- 
ceives and presents the poetical character of the scene, 
weaves into his verse, even more than in the Mater 
Dolorosa, all the striking incidents which the Sacred 
Record details as part of the wonderful story, and all are 
enlivened by touches of nature which are as charming as 
they are truthful. 

I am indebted to an interesting article, by Dr. Schaff, 
under the title "A New Stabat Mater" in the " Hours at 
Home" for May 1867, for my first sight of this poem. 
It contains a translation by Neale. 



20 






STABAT MATER SPECIOSA. 



jfctabat Iftater gpectosa 
Juxta ftcnum gautrtoga, 

Mum jacebat parbulus— 
<£ujus antmam gautrentem, 
Haetabuntram ac fetbentem, 

^ertransibit jubilug. 
<© quam teta et beata 
^jFutt ijaec immaculata, 

Watet mnigeititi! 
<©u& gaufcebat et ritrebat, 
IBxultabat, cum btoebat 

i^ati pactum fnclgti. 
<&ute jam eat, qui non gaufceret 
Cijciati matcem sst btoecet 

Jn tanto solatto? 
<©ute non posset collartaci, 
<tti)*teti matrem ccmtemplact, 

Eutientem cum u'lio ? 
$to peccatis au& gentis, 
ittijrijstum btott cum jumentfe 

IBt algoci subitum— 



21 



BEAUTIFUL MOTHER BY THE MANGER 



Beautiful, his mother, standing 
Near the stall — her soul expanding — 

Saw her new-born lying there — 
In her soul, new joy created, 
And with holy love elated, 

Rapture glorifying her. 
She, her God -begotten greeting, 
Felt her spotless bosom beating, 

With a new festivity — 
Holy joy, her bosom warming — 
Eadiant smiles her face conforming — 

At her Son's nativity. 
Who could fail to see with pleasure, 
Christ's dear mother, without measure 

Such a joy expressing there — 
Thus a mother's care beguiling, 
Thus beside the manger smiling, 

Her dear Son caressing there ? 
For the trespass of his nation, 
Suffering now humiliation, 

Chilling with the cattle there — 



22 STAB AT MATER SPECIOSA. 

V\W suum Trulcem natum, 
Uagientem, atroratum, 

Utli oibersotio. 
jBtato Ctjrtsto in pra>scpe, 
©tell ctbes canunt la>te 

<£um immense gautrio— 
jfctaoat senex cum puella, 
i^on cum berbo ncc locjuela, 

j&tupescentes coriribus. 
3Eja mater, tons amoris, 
iEe sentire bim artrotis, 

jFac ut tecum sentiam! 
jfac ut actjeat cot meum 
Jn amatum (Stijristum 20eum 

Wit sibi complaceam. 
j&ancta mater, istutr agas, 
$tone introfcucas plagas 

©oetii fixas baiitre. 
©ut natt ctelo lapsi, 
Jam oignati fteno nasct, 

$emas mecum oibtoe. 
jpac me bere congauoere, 
Jesuliuo cohere 

©onec ego bixero. 
Jn me sistat artroe tui— 
^uertno fac me ftut 

Bum sum in exilio. 
f^unc aroorem fac communem, 
§Lt me facias immuuem 

&b tot tresitrerio. 



THE BEAUTIFUL MOTHER BY THE MANGER. 23 

Wise men knelt where he was lying, 
Still she saw her dear one crying. 

In a cheerless tavern there. 
Saviour, cradled in a manger ! 
Angels hail the heavenly stranger, 

Jn their great felicity — 
Virgin and her husband gazing, 
Speechless, saw the sight, amazing, 

Of so great a mystery. 
Fount of love, beyond concealing ! 
May the love which thou art feeling, 

Fill my heart, unceasingly — 
Let my heart like thine be glowing — 
Holy love of Jesus knowing, 

And, with thee, in sympathy. 
Holy mother, for him caring, 
Let the ills thy Son is bearing, 

Touch my heart, indelibly — 
Of thy Son, from Heaven descended, 
In a stable, born and tended, 

Share with me the penalty. 
With thee, all thy love dividing, 
Be my soul in Christ abiding, 

While this life enchaineth me. 
May thy love, my bosom warming. 
Make my soul to his conforming, 

While exile detaineth me. 
Let my love with thine still blending, 
Be for Jesus never ending, 

Nothing e'er restraining me. 



24 STAB AT MATER SPECIOSA. 

Uirgo birginum predata, 
iEtiji jam non sis amara, 

jfac me narbum rapere, 
jFac ut nulctjrum fantem nortem, 
<5|ui nascentro bieit mortem 

Uolens bitam tratrere. 
jFae me teeum satiari, 
$,ato me ineoriari, 

jgjtantem in trinuMo. 
Jnttammatus et aecensus, 
<©bstuneseit omnis sensus 

Call tie eommereto. 
©nines staimlum amantes, 
3Et nastores bigilantes 

^ernoetantes soeiant. 
^er birtutem nati tui 
<©ra nt eleeti sui 

&Tr natriam beniant. 
jFae me nato eustofcirt, 
Vtxho M ei nramuniri, 

Conserbari gratia— 
<©uaniro eorpus morietur, 
jFae ut anim& tronetur 

Cui nati bisio. 



THE BEAUTIFUL MOTHER BY THE MANGER. 25 

Virgin, first in virgin beauty ! 
Let me share thy love and duty — 

Clasping, with fidelity, 
That dear child, who for us liveth, 
By his birth, for death, who giveth 

Life and immortality. 
With thee, let me, thrilled with pleasure, 
Feel his love, beyond all measure, 

In a sacred dance with thee — 
"With a holy zeal excited, 
Every ravished sense delighted 

In a holy trance with thee. 
All who love this sacred manger, 
Every watching shepherd stranger, 

All, at night, who come with him — 
By thy Son's dear intercession, 
May his chosen take possession 

Of his heavenly home with him. 
By thy holy Son attended — 
By the word of Grod defended — 

By his grace forgiving me — 
When my mortal frame is perished, 
May my soul, above be cherished — 

Thy dear Son receiving me. 



26 



DE CONTEMPTU MUNDL 

CUR MUNDUS MILITAT. 

This poem is but an expansion of this gospel truth, 
11 All flesh is as grass and all the glory of man as the flower 
u of grass. The grass withereth and the flower thereof 
" fadeth away, but the Word of the Lord endureth for- 
"ever." It is now generally attributed to Jacopone 
(ante, p. 18). Up to a few years since it was as gen- 
erally attributed to St. Bernard. Tusser translated it three 
hundred years ago, calling it "St. Barnard's Verses." 
He however gives but eight stanzas, omitting the fourth 
and the tenth, and they are not arranged as they are in 
the copy given by Trench. Daniel arranges the stanzas 
in still another manner and omits the third. I have cop- 
ied from Trench, but have adopted still another arrange- 
ment, as better exhibiting the spirit of the poem. I have 
also ventured to transpose two words for the sake of the 
rhythm, reading Magis credendum est, instead of Creden- 
dum magis est. Omissions, errors in arrangement, and 
false notions of authorship, could not fail to be common, 
before the art of printing, especially in small poems, 
which passed from one to another by oral repetition and 
by manuscript copies, made often by persons who had 
neither skill nor care in copying. 

The following is Tusser's translation : 



BE CUNTEMPTU MUNDI. 1 J 

u Why so triumphs the World, in pomp and glory vain. 
Whose state so happy thought, so fickle doth remain 9 
Whose bravery so slippery stands, and doth so soon 

decay, 
As doth the potter's pan, compact of brittle clay. 
More credit see thou give, to letters wrote in ice, 
Than unto vain deceits, of brittle world's device, 
In gifts to virtue due, beguiling many one, 
Yet those same never have, long time to hope upon. 
To false dissembling men, more trust is to be had, 
Than to the prosperous state of wretched world so bad. 
What with voluptuousness, and other maddish toys, 
False studies won with pain, false vanities and joys. 
Tell where is Salomon, that once so noble was ? 
Or where now Samson is, in strength whom none 

could pass ? 
Or worthy Jonathas, that prince so lovely bold ? 
Or fair Absalom, so goodly to behold ? 
Shew whither is Caesar gone, that conquered far and 

near? 
Or that rich famous carl, so given to belly cheer ? 
Shew where is Tully now, for eloquence so fit ? 
Or Aristoteles, of such a pregnant wit ? 

thou fit bait for worms ! thou great heap of dust ! 
dew ! vanity ! why so extoll'st thy lust ? 
Thou therefore ignorant, what time thou hast to live, 
Do good to every man, while here thou hast to give. 
How short a feast (to count) is this same world's re- 
nown ? 
Such as men's shadows be, such joy it brings to town, 
Which always plucketh us from God's eternal bliss, 
And leadeth man to hell, a just reward of his. 

The bravery of this world, esteemed here so much, 
In Scripture likened is to flowers of grass and such, 
Like as the leaf so light, which wind abroad doth 

blow, 
So doth this worldly life, the life of man bestow." 



28 



DE CONTEMPT-IT MUNDI. 



<Eur munons mtlttat ssui> bana gloria, 
(Knjus prosperitas est transitoria ? 
Jam cito lafoitur ems potentia, 
<©uam basa nguli, qu& sunt tragilia. 

$lus noe Uteris scriptis in glaeie, 
4|uam munoi tragilis bans fallacies, 
jfallax in pramtiis, birtutis specie, 
<©ui nunquam ijafiuit tempus titouciav 

iftlagis creoenTmm est bids fallacious, 
<£uam munoi miseris orosperitatious, 
jFalsis insaniis et banitatiims, 
jFalsisque stuoiis et boluptatitms. 

&ot clari proceres, tot rerum spatia, 
dot ora praesulum, tot regna fortia, 
Cot muntii orinetpes, tanta potentia, 
Jn ietu oculi, clauountur omnia. 

©ic, uoi Salomon, olim tarn nooilis, 
VtX utri i&amson est, trur inbincioilis, 
Vti pttlcjjer Absalom, bultu mirabilis, 
Vt\ onlcis Jowatijas, multum amabilis? 



29 



CONTEMPT OF THE WORLD 



Why does the world serve the glory it cherisheth, 
Since its prosperity all surely perisheth, 
Passing away with its strength and ability, 
Quickly as pottery, with its fragility ? 

Think that a record on ice may be permanent, 
More than the fallacies under the firmament, 
False in rewards, without virtue or verity, 
Never the world hath a time for sincerity. 

Far better trust men of falsehood, deceiving thee, 
Than the vain world that forever is giving thee 
Pleasures that vanish and foolish insanities, 
Studies delusive and perishing vanities. 

Nobles and prelates, in all ages flourishing — 
Pride and dominion and vainglory nourishing — 
Kings of the earth, with their power and stability- 
All, at a glance, show the end of nobility. 

Where now is Solomon, learned and glorious ? 
Where now is Samson, so strong and victorious ? 
Where, too, is Absalom, princely and beautiful? 
Jonathan, loving and lovely and dutiful ? 



30 DE CONTEMPTU MUNDI. 

(Quo (JT^sar abiit, celsus imperio, 
Vti 23ibes splentitous, totus in pranoio? 
23 ic, ubi ©ullius, clarus eloquio, 
Vti glristoteles, summus ingenio ? 



<&uam brebe festum est Ij#c muntii gloria! 
St umbra ijominis, sic ejus gautria, 
4&u# semper subtraijunt sterna pramtia, 
iSt trucunt ijominem ati irura fcebia. 



© esca bermium ! © massa puibcris ! 
<© ros, <© banitas, cut sic cxtollcris ? 
^gnocans penitus, utrum eras bireris, 
jFac bonum omnibus, quam&iu potcris. 



1$m carnis gloria, qu$ tanti jientritur, 
joacris in Uteris, flos fceni Bicitur— 
St lebe folium, uuofc bento rapitur, 
j£ic bita Ijominis luci subtraijitur. 

0il tuum oireris quot» potes pertrere, 
0uoti muntrus tribuit, intentiit rapere— 
jsupcrna cogita, cor sit in anijere, 
jf clir, qui potuit muntrum contemnere ! 



CONTEMPT OF THE WORLD. 3 I 

Where now is Caesar, so proud and imperious? 
Dives the sumptuous, rich and luxurious ? 
Say, where is Cicero, famous and eloquent ? 
Where Aristotle, in genius preeminent? 

World of vainglory, a vanishing festival ! 
How like the shadows pass pleasures terrestrial ! 
Eobbing the soul of its hopes and its purity — 
Leading man on to a woeful futurity. 

Food of the worm ! Here thy dust is the most of 
thee! 

Vanishing dew-drop ! why do they boast of thee ! 

Ignorant soul ! thy to-morrow may perish thee, 

Then, while thou canst, do the good that may cher- 
ish thee. 

Pride of the flesh, which thou thinkest so dearly of! 

Flower of the grass, which the Word speaketh 
clearly of! 

Like the dead leaf, which the autumn wind scat- 
tered, 

So passeth life, with the vain hope that flattereth. 

Call nothing thine, which so quickly may break 

away; 
What the world giveth, it meaneth to take away ; 
Think on the skies, set thy heart on eternity — 
Happy, despising this world of infirmity ! 



3 2 



THE DAY OF JUDGMENT. 



This old alphabetic poem is of a very early period, at 
least as early as the seventh century, being referred to 
by Bede, who died early in the eighth century. The 
author's name has been lost in the ages. 

It is more properly narrative than lyrical, and lacks 
polish and grace; but this is more than made up by its 
simplicity and solemnity. Having been written before 
the Dies Irce, it has been supposed to have suggested that 
majestic and solitary hymn, but with slight reason. The 
topic and the scene are different, as well as the instruc- 
tion and the spirit of the whole piece. That is but the 
natural and agonizing expression of penitence and prayer 
by an individual sinner, in view of the awful solemnities 
of the final day of wrath. This is a noble, simple and 
trusting paraphrase of the 29th and 30th verses of the 
24th chapter of Matthew and of the 31st to the 45th 
verses of the 25th chapter, which contain a striking 
account of a trial at the Judgment— -the organization of 
the court, the summons, the complaint, the trial, the judg- 
ment, the execution, so circumstantially and solemnly 
reported by the Judge Himself, that it is impossible to 
doubt that it was intended to convey to us a lively and 
instructive representation of the circumstances and man- 
ner of the final Judgment, and, in the most forcible man- 
ner, to teach us, as His life had done, that when He shall 



THE DAY OF JUD GMENT. 3 3 

come to judge every man according to his works, it will 
be a life of goodness and love of Christ, which will be the 
test of pure religion and undefiled before God and the 
Father. 



34 



DE DIE JUDICII. 



&pparebit repentina tries magna Bomini, 
4Fut obscura belut nocte improbisos oc= 

cupans. 
13rebis totus tunc parebit ptisci luxuss 

sa>euli, 
.ftotum simul cum ciarebit ptaeterisse 

saculum. 
Clangor tuba* pet quaternas terras pla= 

gas concinens, 
Uibos una mottuosque Cfjristo ctet obs 

biam. 
lie celesti Jutrex arce, majestate tulgitrus, 
©laris angelorum cijoris comitatus aoe= 

rit. 
lErubescet orbis luna>, sol bel obscura= 

bitur, 
Jgjtella catrent pallescentes, munm' ttemet 

ambitus— 
4Flamma ignis anteibit justi bultum 

Juoieis, 
(Mum, terras, et profundi fluctus ponti 

otborans. 
(Hloriosus in sublimi Mer setrebit solio, 



35 



THE DAY OF JUDGMENT. 



At the last, the great day of the Lord shall arise, 
As a thief in the night, to dismay and surprise. 
Then how transient will seem all the pleasures of 

earth, 
When the end of all time shall be past, like its 

birth— 
When the trumpet shall call from all quarters 

below, 
Both the quick and the dead to the judgment to go. 
From his heavenly palace, majestic and bright, 
Shall the Judge, with His angels, come glorious in 

light, 
While the sun shall be dark and the moon be like 

blood, 
And the stars fade and fall, and earth shake like a 

flood. 
From the face of the Judge shall the flame of his 

ire, 
All the air and the earth and the sea, burn with 

fire. 
And the King shall then sit on his throne in the 

sky, 



3 6 DE DIE JUDICII. 

&ttgelotum txemebuirtra cixcumstafcunt 

agmina. 
I^uius omwes afc elect! collegentux Trex= 

texam, 
|}tabi pabent a sinistxis, t&M belut fte= 

titii— 
Jta fcicet 9&ex ati Trextros, xegnum call 

sumite, 
$atex orits quo* parabit ante omne s&s 

culum. 
Hatitate qui txaterna me jubtstis pau= 

pexem. 
(Eaxitatis nunc mexcefcem repoxtate Ijus 

bites. 
Haeti lucent (©uantro, artiste, pauperem 

te btoimus, 
©e, Hex magne, bel egentem misetati 

jubtmus, 
JHagnus Ulis titcet Jutrex— (Kum jubistis 

pauperem, 
panern, oomum, bestem nantes, me ju= 

bistis tjumiles. 
&tt taxiiabit et sinistxis loqui Justus Exs 

fcitex— 
Jit gdjennfc, maletricti, ttammas ijinc 

fliseetiite, 
©bsecrantem me autrixeirespexistis mens 

tricum, 
$,utro bestem won fcefcistis, neglexistis 

languioum. 



THE DAY OF JUDGMENT. 37 

And all of His angels stand worshipping by. 

To His right His elect He shall call by His 
grace, 

While the wicked, like goats, on the left He shall 
place. 

Then to those on His right hand the King shall 
declare, 

"Take the kingdom my Father for you did pre- 
pare — 

For 'twas when I was poor that your love gave me 
aid — 

From the riches of love your reward now is 
made." 

Then the righteous shall ask, "When, oh Lord, 
did we bless 

Thee, our heavenly King, or relieve Thy dis- 
tress?" 

And the Judge shall reply, "When the poor ye did 
heed, 

Giving shelter and clothing and bread for their 
need." 

And to those on His left shall the Just Judge pro- 
claim, 

"Ye accursed, depart to unquenchable flame; 

Ye despised me when I for your alms did im- 
plore, 

Being sick and forsaken and naked and sore." 



J 8 DE DIE JUDICU. 

IJeccatores oicent— (tfijriste, quanfco te bel 

pauperem, 
fte Mtx magne bel infirmum contents 

planter sprebimus ? 
(©uibus contra Juoer altus — i^lentiicantt 

quamoiu 
©pent ferre tie^pexistiss, me sprebistis 

improbi. 
Itetro ruent turn injusti igneg in peeped 

uos, 
dermis quorum non morietur, flamnta 

nee restinguitur, 
g>atan atro cum ministris quo tenetur 

carcere, 
jfletus ubi mugitusque strtoent omneg 

oentibus. 
&unc fibeles atr ctelestem sustollentur 

patriam, 
Oijoros inter angelorum regni petent 

gauoia, 
Sirbis summae ^Jerusalem introibunt 

gloriam, 
"tftxa lucte atque pacis in qua tulget 

bisio. 
Xrtetum Regent, jam paterna claritate 

splenoioum, 
WLU celsa beatorum contemplantur ags 

mina. 
ptiri ftautres ergo cabe, inftrmantes subs 

leba, 



THE DA Y OF JUDGMENT. 3 9 

And the wicked shall say, "Lord, oh when did we 

spurn 
Thee, King, and away from thy poverty 

turn?" 
" This to me ye have done," then the great Judge 

shall say, 
" When the poor ye despised and from him turned 

away." 
And then back shall they rush to the flames that 

arise, 
Where the fire is not quenched and their worm 

never dies — 
Where the devil is bound in his prison be- 
neath — 
Where are weeping and groaning and gnashing of 

teeth. 
Then the faithful shall rise to their heavenly 

home, 
In the joys of the kingdom with angels to 

roam, 
They shall enter the bliss of the city of God — 
Where the visions of peace and of light shine 

abroad — 
Where the throngs of the blessed Christ Jesus 

adore, 
As He shineth in glory His Father before. 
Shun the wiles of the serpent, give aid to the 

weak, 



4-0 DE DIE JUDICII. 

Eurum tcmnc, fuge luxus, si bis astra 

pctcrc— 
%>on& data castitatis lunvfcos nunc ac= 

cingcce, 
Jn occursum magni Hegis fee attrantcs 

latnpatrcs. 



THE DAY OF JUDGMENT. 41 

Flee thy worldly desires, if the skies thou wouldst 

seek. 
And begird up thy loins, with a zone pure and 

white ; 
Be prepared for the King, with thy lamps burning 

bright 

6 



42 



VENI, CREATOR SPIRITUS. 



This Hymn has always been held in the highest esti- 
mation as an invocation of that Creative Spirit which 
gives the birth of a new spiritual life. " That which is 
born of the spirit is spirit." From its use as a prayer for 
the regeneration of the new birth it passed easily into 
use, in the Roman Catholic Church, as an appointed song 
for those sacred and solemn occasions where the blessing 
of the Spirit is invoked upon one about to enter upon a 
new life, in which the divine aid is especially necessary, 
as in the ordering of priests, the consecration of bishops 
and archbishops, and the coronation of kings and popes. 
It is also used as a Pentecostal hymn. There is a 
translation of it in the Book of Common Prayer of the 
Episcopal Church, in the Form for ordering priests. It is, 
however, more properly a paraphrase than a translation — 
the seven stanzas of the original being expanded into 
sixteen. 

Its authorship is commonly attributed to Charlemagne, 
who died in the year 814. I adopt, however, the opinion 
of Trench, that it is certainly older than the time of that 
great monarch. Judging from internal evidence alone, I 
should not hesitate to ascribe it to St. Ambrose, who 
died in 397. I give but little importance to the ascrip 
tion of it to Charlemagne. It may very well be but one 



VENI, CREATOR SPIRITUS. 43 

of the many examples of the facility with which opinions 
on such matters, once expressed, even without evidence, 
are repeated until they are generally believed, no one 
taking the trouble to inquire into their foundation. The 
high character and various talents of St. Ambrose — 
" Doctor Mellifluus et Mellitissimus" as he was called — 
caused to be attributed to him many hymns of great an- 
tiquity, of which he was finally believed not to be the 
author, the effect of which was to make many believe 
that there are no hymns which can with certainty be said 
to be his, and I know of no authority for saying that this is 
his. Except as a matter of literary history, it is of 
little importance who was the author. The merit of the 
hymn is in itself alone. Its comprehensiveness and 
brevity, its simplicity and beauty, its gentle spirit of trust 
and devotion, and its earnest directness of expression, 
mark it as the production of a great and practised writer 
and a devout Christian, studiously familiar with the 
Scriptures and with theological truth, rather than of a 
proud monarch and a great soldier. 



44 



VENI, CREATOR SPIRITUS. 



Ueni, creator gjpiritus, 
ittentes tuorum bisita, 
Jmple superna gratia 
<E}u® tu creasti pectora. 

<!|ui tiicerts paracletus, 
Eltissimi iionum Mti f 
jFons bibus, ignis, caritas, 
3St spiritalis unctio. 

Cu septtformis munere, 
digitus paterna? trertr$, 
©u rite promissum ^atris, 
j&ermone Mtans guttura. 

&ccenoe lumen sensibus. 
Jnttmoe amorem coroibus, 
Jnftrma nostri corporis 
IJtttute firmans petpeti. 

postern repellas iongius, 
^acemQue irones protinus ; 
©uctore sic te pra^bio, 
tJitemus omnc noxium. 

$er tc sciamus fca ^atrcm, 
i^oscamus atque jFilium ; 



45 



COME, CREATIVE SPIRIT. 



Spirit, heavenly life bestowing, 
Spirit, all Thy new-born knowing, 
Fill with gracious inspiration 
Every soul of Thy creation. 
Comforter from God descending, 
Life and unction ever blending — 
Fount of living waters flowing, 
Flame of love for ever glowing. 
Sevenfold, precious gifts conferring, 
Finger of the Lord, unerring — 
Promise, by the Father given, 
Teacher of the speech of heaven — 
For our senses light securing, 
Fill our hearts with love enduring ; 
In our bodies strength implanting, 
Faith and firmness ever granting. 
Far the foe to grace repelling, 
Give us endless peace indwelling ; 
Thou, as leader, deign to guide us, 
That no evil may betide us. 
By Thy grace the Father learning, 
And the blessed Son discerning ; 



46 VENI, CREATOR SPIRITUS. 

2Te utrtusque j2>ptrttum 
(Stretramus omni tempore, 
(gloria ^atri Domino, 
$<atoaue cjui a mortuis 
Jfcurrerit, ae ^araelito, 
Jn sawilorum samila. 



VENI, CREATOR SPIRIT US. 47 

Thee, of both the spirit blending, 
Let us trust through life unending. 
To the God who being gave us, 
To the Son who rose to save us, 
To the Spirit sanctifying, 
Glory be through life undying ! 



4 8 



COME, CREATIVE SPIRIT. 

ANOTHER VERSION. 

Spirit creative, power divine ! 
Visit every soul of Thine, 
Give the hearts that Thou hast made, 
Thy celestial grace and aid. 
Fount where living waters flow, 
Flame of heavenly love below, 
Holy Ghost, by God conferred, 
Unction of the living Word, 
Sending seven-fold gifts abroad, 
Finger of the hand of God, 
Promise of the Father's grace, 
Gift of speech in every place, 
Let our senses feel Thy flame, 
Strengthen Thou our mortal frame. 
In our hearts Thy love bestow, 
Faith and firmness let us know. 
Far the foe to grace repel, 
Let Thy peace within us dwell, 
Guide our feet Thy race to run, 
Teach us every ill to shun. 
Make us all the Father know, 
And the blessed Son below, 



VENI, CREATOR SPIRITUS. 49 

Give us endless faith in Thee, 
Spirit of the sacred Three ! 
Glory to the Father be, 
Glory to the risen Son, 
Glory, Holy Ghost, to Thee, 
While eternal ages run. 

7 



5° 



COME, CREATIVE SPIRIT. 

ANOTHER VERSION. 

Come Thou Spirit, life bestowing, 
Inwardly Thy new-born knowing — 
Fount of living waters flowing — 
Flame of love, forever glowing — 
Comforter from God descending, 
Life and unction ever blending, 
Fill with grace of Thine own sending, 
Every heart on Thee depending. 
Thou Thy seven-fold gifts providing, 
Thou God's hand our footsteps guiding, 
Thou His promise still abiding, 
To our lips His word confiding, 
For our senses light securing, 
Fill our hearts with love enduring, 
All the body's weakness curing, 
Faith and strength in us maturing. 
Far the foe to grace repelling, 
Give us endless peace indwelling, 
Leader Thou, our pathway telling, 
Every evil thing dispelling. 
Us unto the Father leading 
And the Saviour interceding, 



VENl CREATOR SPIRITUS. 5 I 

In Thyself, from both proceeding, 
Give the faith that we are needing. 
To the Father, life supplying, 
To the Son, for sinners dying, 
To the Spirit sanctifying, 
Glory be through life undying ! 



5* 



THE LAST SUPPER— ST. THOMAS 
AQUINAS. 



St. Thomas Aquinas, bom in 1224, of a noble 
family, was one of the most illustrious saints of the 
Roman Catholic Church. He was remarkable for his 
learning, his eloquence, and his ability as an instructor in 
letters and religion, and his eminent piety — excelling all 
his contemporaries. His friendship was sought by the 
most distinguished men of his time, and he was offered 
the dignities of the church ; but these he steadily refused 
to accept. He could not, however, prevent them from 
calling him the Doctor Angelicus. When Pope Urban 
IV. determined to establish the festival of the Holy 
Sacrament, he directed this learned and pious divine to 
prepare the "office" for that day. He composed the 
celebrated lyrics, Pange, Lingua, Gloriosi and Lauda, Sion, 
Salvatorem, as the hymn and the prose for that solemn 
service. Both of them stand in the second rank among 
the hymns of the mediaeval period, the Dies Irce alone 
holding the first. 

They are excluded from the collection of Trench be- 
cause of their seeming to teach the Roman Catholic 
doctrine of transubstantiation. The language of this 
hymn, of the Last Supper, is not, however, subject to any 
objection on this ground, which would not apply to that 
qf the Saviour in the institution of the Supper, and to his 



THE LAST SUPPER— ST. THOMAS AQUINAS. S3 

instructions in the sixth chapter of John, which are not 
only consistent with our faith, but are, indeed, the foun- 
dation of it. The Protestant faith on this subject is well 
expressed and proved by Lady Jane Grey, in her inter- 
view with Dr. Feckenham, who had been sent by Queen 
Mary to convert her to the Catholic religion. 

"Feckenham. Do you not receive the very body and 
blood of Christ? 

Lady Jane. No, surely, I do not so believe. I think 
that, at the Supper, I neither receive flesh nor blood, 
but bread and wine, which bread, when it is broken, and 
which wine, when it is drunken, putteth me in remem- 
brance how that, for my sins, the body of Christ was 
broken and his blood shed on the cross ; and with that 
bread and wine I receive the benefits that came by the 
breaking of his body and shedding his blood for our sins 
on the cross. 

" Feckenham. Why, doth not Christ speak these words. 
* Take, eat, this is my body ? ' Doth he not say it is his 
body? 

"Lady Jane. I grant he saith so, and so he saith 1 
am the vine, I am the door ; but he is never more the 
door or the vine. I pray you to answer me to this one 
question. Where was Christ when he said, c Take, eat, this 
is my body ? ' Was he not at the table when he said so ? 
He was at that time alive, and suffered not till the next 
day. What took he but bread? What brake he but 
bread ? Look, what he took he brake ; and look, what 
he brake he gave ; and look, what he gave they did eat. 
And yet all this time he himself was alive and at 
supper, before his disciples." 



54 



PANGE, LINGUA, GLORIOSI. 



Hange, lingua, gloriosi 
(ftorpotis mgsterium, 
jfcanguinisque pretiosi, 
<®uem in muntii pretium, 
jFructus bentris generosi, 
S&tx eff utrit gentium. 

i^Lobis tratus, nobis natus 
3Bx intacta 17irgine, 
iEt in munoo conbersatus, 
jjparso berbi semine, 
Jg>ui moras incolatus 
iftflito clausit orbine. 

Jn supreme nocte tm\$, 
3&ecumbens cum ftatritms, 
(©bseebata lege plene 
alibis in legalibus, 
(Eiijum turbae buofcena? 
g>e trat suis manibus. 

Uerbum earn, panem betum 
1fc7erbo earnem em'cit : 
,jf itpe sanguis OHjtisti meeum; 
3Bt si sensus deficit, 



55 



SING, MY TONGUE, 



Sing, my tongue, the theme undying, 

Mystery which His Body knoweth ; 
Precious blood of crucifying, 

Which the world's Eedeemer showeth ; 
Fruit of heavenly sanctifying, 

Whence the world's redemption flowetk 
From the Blessed Virgin going, 

lie with men on earth resided ; 
Sacred seed for ever sowing, 

He the fruit to us confided ; 
Till His end, His triumph showing, 

He His wondrous sojourn guided 
In the night of His last meeting, 

With His brethren there united, 
All the Paschal forms completing, 

By the ancient law indited, 
Him He offered for their eating, 

And His dying love recited. 
Word made flesh, among us dwelling, 

With true bread and wine regaleth ; 
By His word the mystery telling — 

And if sense imperfect faileth — 



56 PANGE, LINGUA, GLORIOSI. 

Wits firmantrum cor sincerum 
jg>ola norss suflicit. 

Santum ergo j£acramentum 
Ucneremur arnui ; 
5Bt antiquum irocumentum 
$lobo cetrat ritut, 
fpmstet fifoes suoplementum 
jbensuum otfectui. 

(©enitori, genitoque 
Haus n jubilatio, 
j&alus, fjonor, btrtus pope 
£it et oeneoictio : 
^roceoenti at utrocjue 
(Kompar sit lautratio. 



PANGE, LINGUA, GLORIOSI. 57 

From the true heart, doubt dispelling, 

Still the trust of faith prevaileth. 
Such a sacrament provided, 

Bowed and humble let us take it ; 
Eites to ancient times confided, 

Yield to what the new rites make it ; 
Be not by the sense misguided, 

But in humble faith partake it. 
Father, God of our salvation ! 

Son, for sinners interceding ! 
Holy Ghost, our renovation, 

Spirit, from them both proceeding ! 
To the Three be jubilation, 

Honor, praise, and joy exceeding! 

8 



58 



DE PASSIONE DOMINI. 



IScouis binas columbinas 

&las oabtt anting? 

ffitt In almam cruets palmam 

iSbolet citisstme, 

$n qua Jesus totus laesus, 

t©rbis fcestoertum, 

3St immensus est suspensus, 

,if actus improperium ! 

<©lj cor, scanoe— Jesu, panbe 

(tfaritatts biscera, 

3St protunoe me recontie 

Jntra sacra bulnera— 

Jn superna me caberna 

(tfolloca maceria*— 

3^tc bibenti, (jutescenti 

Joints est mtseriae ! 

© mi 23eus, amor meus! 

&une pro me pateris ? 

|Jro inoigno, cruets Ugno, 

Jesu mi, sumgeris ? 

|Jro latrone, Jesu tone, 

£u in crucem tollerts ? 



59 



THE PASSION OF THE LORD, 



Oh ! had it the wings of a dove, 

Quick my soul would to Calvary fly, 
And light on the cross of His love, 

Where they've nailed the Eedeemer to die : 
Where Jesus, the hope of the earth, 

By their cruelty, bleeding and torn, 
And crowned as a sport for their mirth, 

All their scoffs and derision has borne. 
Oh ! rise then, my heart, and away ; 

Where Thy yearning, dear Jesus, abounds, 
There now in Thy love let me stay, 

Let me hide in the depth of Thy wounds. 
On high, in the home of the blest, 

In the cleft of the Eock give me peace, 
Where dwelling, my spirit may rest, 

And my trouble and misery cease. 
Oh ! tell me, my Love and my God, 

If indeed Thou art suff' ring for me ? 
For me hast to Calvary trod, 

And dost hang on the merciless tree? 
With thieves, Lord of goodness and grace, 

Have Thine enemies crucified Thee ? 



60 BE PASSIONE DOMINI. 

$ro peccatis meis gratis, 
iJita mea, moreris ? 
lion sum tanti, Jesu quanti 
amor tuus a>stimat— 
f^eu ! cur ego bitam irego 
J&i tor te non rrtramat ? 
13eneoictus sit inbictus 
amor bincens omnia, 
^mor fortis, tela mortis 
l&eputans ut somnia. 
Jste fecit et refecit 
amor, Jesu, oertritum. 
<© insignis, amor, ignis 
©or accenoe ftigtoum ! 
(© fac bere cor aroere 
jfac me te oiligere— 
Ma conjungi, "Da trefungi 
©ecum, Jesu, bibere ! 



DE PASSIONE DOMINI. 6 1 

My sins dost Thou bear in my place ? 

And, my Life, art Thou dying for me ? 
Jesus ! unworthy am I — 

Undeserving the love Thou hast shown. 
Ah ! what does this life signify, 

If my heart do not love like Thine own ? 
The love that o'er all doth prevail, 

Let it blest and unconquered remain, 
And death and his darts that assail 

Be but dreams that are transient and vain. 
This love that has made us Thine own, 

Blessed Saviour, the lost doth reclaim ; 
The warmth of that love make it known, 

Till it kindle my heart with its flame. 
My heart, let it burn with Thy love ; 

With a holy desire let me sigh, 
To join with my Saviour above, 

And to dwell with Thee, Jesus, on high. 



62 



STABAT MATER DOLOROSA. 



The most striking poetical situation in sacred history is 
the Mother of Jesus at the Cross. It could not fail to 
be the subject of a mediaeval hymn. The world-renowned 
Stabat Mater is that hymn, which, after being ascribed to 
many eminent authors, is now commonly attributed to 
Jacopone (ante, page 18). u The mysterious charm and 
power of the hymn is due to the subject, and to the intensity 
of feeling with which the author has seized it. Mary stood 
there not only as the mother, but as the representative 
of the whole Christian church, for which the eternal Son 
of God suffered the most ignominious death on the cross. 
The author had the rare poetic faculty to bring out, as 
from immediate vision and heartfelt sympathy, the deep 
meaning of these scenes, in stanzas of classic beauty and 
melody that melt the heart and start the tear of peniten- 
tial grief at the cross of Christ." 

" The Mater Dolorosa has been regarded by universal 
consent as the most pathetic and touching of Latin church 
lyrics, and inferior only to the Dies Ira, which stands 
alone in its glory and overpowering effect. Daniel calls 
it the queen of sequences. It breathes the spirit of pro- 
found repentance and glowing love, such as can be kindled 
only by long and intense contemplation of the mystery 



STAB A T MA TER D OL OB OS A. 63 

of the cross — that most amazing and affecting spectacle 
ever presented to the gaze of heaven and earth. The 
agon j of Mary at the cross, and the sword which then 
pierced through her soul, according to the prophecy of 
Simeon, never found more perfect expression. It sur- 
passes in effect the Mater Dolorosas of the greatest paint- 
ers. The key-note of the hymn is contained in the first 
two lines, and is suggested by the brief but pregnant 
sentence of St. John, Stabat juxta crucem mater ejus. 
Vulg. It is brought out with overpowering effect in the 
Hymn, as has been felt even by those who have little re 
ligious sympathy with the theme. ' The loveliness of 
sorrow,' says Tieck, 'in the depth of pain, the smiling in 
tears, the childlike simplicity which touches on the high- 
est heaven, had to me never before risen so bright in the 
soul. I had to turn away to hide my tears, especially at 
the place, l Vidit suum dulcem natum. 1 " 

"The Mater Dolorosa has furnished the text of some 
of the noblest musical compositions by Palestrina, Per- 
golesi, Astorga, B^dn, Bellini, Rossini, Neukomm. That 
of Palestrina is still annually performed in the Sistine 
Chapel, during Passion week. 

" There are about eighty translations of this hymn in 
German, and there are several in English ; but very few 
of those in English preserve the original metre." 

The foregoing quotations are from the admirable article 
of Dr. Schaff, in the "Hours at Home," to which I have 
elsewhere referred. 



6 4 



STABAT MATER DOLOROSA. 



£tabat iftatet Dolorosa 
Juxta crueem lacrnmosa, 
Bum penirebat JMlius— 

GTujus animam gementem, 
(ftontristantem & oolentem, 
^etttansibit glaring. 

(© quam tristis & aflicta 
jFuit ilia beneoicta, 
JHaterBnigeniti! 

<®ua> nuerebat, & oolebat, 
iEt tremebat cum bioebat 
$tati pcenas inclnti ! 

(Suis est Ijomo pi non fleret, 
©Ijristi Jftatrcm si biberet 
Jn tanto supplieio ? 

<©uis posset non contristari 
$iam jHflatrem contemplari, 
©olentem cum jftlto ? 

^Pto peccatis su# gcntis, 
Uioit Jesum in tormentis, 
3Et flagellis suboitum. 

Wait suum ouleem |latum, 
Jftorientem, besolatum, 
©urn emisit spiritttm 



*5 



WEEPING STOOD HIS MOTHER 



Weeping stood His mother, signing 
By the cross where Jesus, dying, 

Hung aloft on Calvary ; 
Through her soul, in sorrow moaning, 
Bowed in grief, in spirit groaning, 

Pierced the sword in misery. 
Filled with grief beyond all others, 
Mother — blessed among mothers — 

Of the God-begotten one ! 
How she sorroweth and grieveth, 
Trembling as she thus perceiveth 

Dying her unspotted one ! 
Who could there refrain from weeping, 
Seeing Christ's dear mother keeping, 

In her grief, so bitterly ? 
Who could fail to share her anguish, 
Seeing thus the mother languish, 

Lost in woe so utterly ? 
For the trespass of his nation 
She beheld his laceration, 

By their scourges suffering. 
She beheld her dearest taken, 
Crucified, and God-forsaken, 

Dying by their torturing. 

9 



66 



STABAT MATER DOLOROSA. 

3Eta ittater tons amoris, 
Mt sentlre bun fcoloris, 
,iFac tit tecum lugeam. 

jFac ut artreat cor meum 
Jn amanfco ortjristum 23eum, 
Wit sibi complaceam. 

J&ancta Jiilater, istuTr agas, 
(Srucitm uge plagas 
(JToroi meo balioe. 

2Tui i^ati bulnerati, 
Jam oignatt pro mc pati, 
jlcenas mccum oibftre. 

jFac mc bcrc tecum Acre, 
(tfrucinro contoolere, 
23 once ego bixero. 

Juxta (Erucem tecum stare, 
&e libenter soctare, 
Jn planctu otstoero. 

Utrgo btrginum pr#clara, 
Mtyi jam non sis amara, 
,jFac me tecum plangere. 

,tFac ut portem <E1jristi mortem, 
^assionis ejus sortem 
3St plagas recolere. 

dFac me plagis bulnerart, 
Otruce ijac inebriari, 
<©b amorem jFilii. 

Jnflammatus & accensus, 
$er te, Uirgo, sim otfensus 
Jn trie juoicit. 



STABAT MATER DOLOROSA. 67 

Mother, fountain of affection, 
Let me share thy deep dejection, 

Let me share thy tenderness ; 
Let my heart, thy sorrow feeling, 
Love of Christ, the Lord, revealing, 

Be like thine in holiness ! 
All His stripes, oh ! let me feel them, 
On my heart for ever seal them, 

Printed there enduringly. 
All His woes, beyond comparing, 
For my sake in anguish bearing, 

Let me share them willingly. 
By thy side let me be weeping, 
True condolence with him keeping, 

Weeping all my life with thee ; 
Near the cross with thee abiding, 
Freely all thy woes dividing, 

In thy sorrow joined with thee. 
Virgin, of all virgins fairest, 
Let me feel the love thou bearest, 

Sharing all thy suffering ; 
Let me feel the death they gave Him, 
Crucified in shame to save them, 

Dying without murmuring. 
Let me feel their blows so crushing, 
Let me drink the current gushing 

From His wounds when crucified, 
By a heavenly zeal excited, 
When the judgment fires are lighted 

Then may I be justified 



68 STABAT MATER DOLOROSA. 

jfat me (ftruce custofciri, 
Moxtt <&§xl#ti pr&muniri, 
(tfotrfoberi gratia. 

<Suantro corpus morietur, 
jpac tit anim& Tronetur 
$arafctei gloria. 



STAB A T MA TER D OL OR OS A. 69 

On the Cross of Christ relying, 

Through His death redeemed from dying, 

By His favor fortified ; 
"When my mortal frame is perished, 
Let my spirit then be cherished, 

And in heaven be glorified. 



70 



DE CORONA SPINEA. 



j2>i bis bere gloriari, 
35t a Wto coronati 

l^onore et gloria, 
l^anc coronam contemplart 
jfctuueas, atpe sectari 

$ortantig bestigia. 
I^anc (SMorum Hex portabit, 
l^onorabit et sacrabit 

j&acro guo capite— 
Jn Ijac galea pugnabit, 
(ffium antiquum ijostem strabit, 

©tiumpijanss in stipite. 
I^aec pugnantis galea, 
©riumptantte laurea, 

&iara pontincis— 
^vimum tuit spinea, 
liostmoijum fit aurea 

©actu sancti beeticte. 
j&pinarum aculeos 
Virtus fecit aureos 

<Kijristi passionis. 
OBua peccatis spineos 
l&ortis aterna reos, 

^trimplebit bonis. 



7 X 



THE CROWN OF THORNS. 



Woulds't thy spirit glory truly — 
By the Lord be honored duly, 

With a crown irradiate, 
Think upon the crown they gave Him, 
Crucified in scorn to save them — 

Strive His life to imitate. 
This, the King of Heaven, dying, 
Honoring and sanctifying, 

Wore in shame and misery. 
In this helmet He contended, 
When His strife in triumph ended, 

On the cross of Calvary. 
Helmet which the soldier beareth — 
Laurel which the victor weareth — 

High priest's mitre, consecrate — 
First of thorns His temples tearing, 
Then of gold beyond comparing, 

By His touching transmutate. 
Thorns He wore amid their scorning, 
Change to gold His brows adorning — 

By the death He sufFereth. 
Which to those by sin perverted — 
From eternal death converted — 

Every blessing offeretli. 



7 2 DE CORONA SPINE A. 

Be malts coUigitur 
ISt tie spints plectttur 

guinea peebetsts. 
£eir in aimim bertitur, 
(©uantiti culpa tollitue, 

3Eistiem conberste. 
Jesu pie, Jesu tone, 
^ostro nobis in agone 

SLargere btetortam— 
fftores nosttos sic compone 
Wit perpetual corona 

i&ereamur gloriam. 



THE CROWN OF THORNS. 73 

Thorns, by wicked hands collected, 
In a plaited crown connected, 

Pierce the wicked bearing it ; 
When away our sin He taketh, 
This a crown of gold He maketh, 

To his children wearing it. 
Jesus in Thy goodness aid us — 
In the strife that sin has made us, 

Give us, Lord, the victory. 
So our daily lives preparing, 
That, Thine endless glory sharing, 

We may wear the crown with Thee. 
10 



74 



VICTIMS PASOHALI LAUDES, 

THE FOUR PRINCIPAL PROSES. 

This hymn, of which the author is unknown, is said 
every day of Easter week. It is one of the four prin- 
cipal Proses of the Roman Catholic books of devotion. 
They were called Sequences, from their place in the ser- 
vices of the Roman Catholic Church — they followed the 
Gradual. They were called proses, because they were not 
verse in the classical sense, but prose ; that is to say, 
they disregarded the quantitative measure of the classical 
poets, and, in place of it, substituted syllabic measure and 
accentual rhythm. 

u Prose, nom qu'on a donne dans les derniers siecles a 
certaines hymnes composees de vers sans mesure, mais 
de certain nombre de syllabes avec des rimes qui se 
chantent apres le graduel, d'ou on les a aussi appellees 
sequence — sequentia, c'est a dire qui suit apres le grad- 
uel." — Supp. Morer. 

"Prose se dit aussi d'une sorte d'ouvrage latin en rimes, 
ou sans observer la quantite, on observe le nombre des 
syllabes. On chante a la rnesse, immediatement avant 
l'evangile, quelques ouvrages de cette nature dans les 
solemnites." — Diet. Acad. 

"Prosa, that which is not metre." — Holyoke Lat. Diet. 

Although at the first the rhyme and the rhythm were 



VICTIMS PASCHALI LA UVES. 7 5 

both imperfect, in the course of time the versification and 
the rhyme were alike regular and harmonious. 

"L'usage des proses a commence au plus tard au neu- 
vieme siecle. Notker, moine de S. Gal, qui £crivit vers 
Tan 880, et qui est regarde com me le premier auteur que 
Ton connaisse, en fait de proses, dit dans la preface du 
livre oii il en parle qui il en avoit vu dans un antipho- 
nier de l'abbaye de Jumieges, laquelle fut brulde par les 
Normands en 841. Nous avons quatre proses principales, 
le Veni, Sancte Spiritus, pour la Pentecote, que Durand 
attribue au Koi Robert, mais qui est plus probablement 
de Hermannus Contractus— c 1 est la prose Sancti Spiritus 
adsit nobis gratia, qui est du roi Robert, selon quelques 
anciens, entr' autres Brompton plus ancien que Durand — 
Le Lauda Sion salvatorem, pour la fete du S. Sacre- 
ment qui est de S. Thomas d'Aquin — Le Victimoz pas- 
chali laudes dont on ignore Tauteur — c'est la prose du 
temps de Paques — Le Dies irce, Dies Ma, que Ton chante 
aux services des morts. On l'attribue mal apropos a S. 
Gregoire, ou a S. Bernard, ou a Humbert, general des 
dominicains. Cette prose est du Cardinal Frangipani, 
dit Malabranca, docteur de Paris, de l'ordre des domini- 
cains qui mourut a Perouse en ]294." — Encyc. et Supp. 
Morer. 

The Victimce paschali laudes is usually printed in the 
form of prose, as I give it. I do not doubt, however, 
that its author considered it a rhymed lyric — poetical in 
its thought and conception, but really written in prosaic 
form, and interspersed, at unequal intervals, with rhymes 
of a very irregular and imperfect character, furnishing an 
apt illustration of the remarks of Archbishop Trench on 



7 6 YICTIMJE PASCHALI LA UDES. 

the infancy and progress of Latin rhymed accentual ver 
sification. He says (I abridge his remarks) : * Khyme 
made itself an occasional place even in the later or pro- 
sodic poetry of Rome, but no large employment of it dates 
higher than the eighth or ninth centuries. It displayed 
itself first in lines which, having a little relaxed the strict- 
ness of metrical observance, sought to find a compensation 
for this in similar closes to the verse, being at this time 
very far from that elaborate and perfect instrument which 
it afterwards became. We may trace it, step by step, 
from its rude, timid, and uncertain beginnings, till, in the 
later hymnologists of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, 
an Aquinas or an Adam of St. Victor, it displayed all its 
latent capabilities, and attained its final glory and perfec- 
tion, satiating the ear with a richness of melody scarcely 
anywhere to be surpassed. At first the rhymes were 
often merely vowel or assonant ones, the consonants not 
being required to agree ; or the rhyme was adhered to 
when this was convenient, but disregarded when the 
needful word was not at hand ; or the stress of the rhyme 
was suffered to fall on an unaccented syllable, thus scarcely 
striking the ear; or it was limited to the similar termina- 
tion of a single letter ; while sometimes, on the strength 
of this like ending, as sufficiently sustaining the melody, 
the whole other construction of the verse and arrangement 
of the syllables was neglected. It may be that they who 
first used it, were oftentimes scarcely, or not at all, con- 
scious of what they were doing. ' 

The following arrangement of the whole original hymn 
illustrates these remarks : 



VICTIM JE PASCHALI LA UDES. J J 

Victims Paschali, 

Laudes immolent Christiani, 

Agnus redemit oves, 

Christus innocens Patri 

Keconciliavit peccatores. 

Mors et vita, duello, 

Conflixere mirando. 

Dux vitse mortuus, 

Kegnat vivus. 

Die nobis, Maria, 

Quid vidisti in via ? 

Sepulcrum Christi viventis 

Et gloriam vidi resurgentis. 

Die nobis, Maria 

Quid vidisti in via ? 

Angelicos testes,. 

Sudarium et vestes. 

Die nobis, Maria, 

Quid vidisti in via. 

Surrexit Christus, spes mea. 

Prsecedet suos in Galiloeam. 

Credendum est magis soli Mariae veraci, 

Quam Judaeorum turbae fallaci. 

Scimus Christum surrexisse a mortuis vere, 

Tu nobis victor, Kex miserere. 

Thus arranged, at its full length, it gives strong color 
to the suggestion, which-has been made, that, originally, it 
had a dramatic character, and was sung, responsively, by 
a choir and by persons representing Mary Magdalen and 
the Apostles — a kind of performance which was not un- 
common in the earlier ages of Christianity. I copy the 
Prose from the Eoman Missal, in the prosaic form in which 
I have always seen it printed, and in which it is said in 
that service. 



78 



VICTIMS PASCHALI LAUDES. 



T^tcttmae pasrijalt lautres tmmolent 
(tfijttsttant. 

agnus reotmtt obes: OHjttettts tnno= 
tens $atrt monctltabtt peccatores. 

iHors et bita duello contttxm mitantro : 
dux bita mortuus, regnat bibug. 

©tc noote, iftatia: quitr btotett in 
bta? 

j£>epulcrum Otfmstt btbentte, tt glortam 
biUt resurgentte. 

&ngelicos tt$tt$, suiratium tt bestes. 

i&umxtt (B^rtetus, spes tnea: praceoet 
bos in (galtlaam. 

Sbtimu* atijrtetum sumxtese a mot? 
tuts bete. &u noote, btctor, 9ftex, tnte= 
ccere. 



19 



TO THE PASCHAL VICTIM RAISE 



Christians, raise your grateful strain 

To the Paschal victim, slain ; 

Now the Lamb the flock hath bought — 

To the Father, long besought, 

Christ, the pure and undefiled, 

Hath the sinner reconciled. 

Here contending Death and Life 

Now have met in wondrous strife ; 

Death the Prince of Life hath slain, 

Now he reigns in life again ! 
" Tell us, Mary, what, to-day, 

Thou beh eldest on thy way." 
" Where the buried Lord had been, 

There His glory I have seen, 

Angel witnesses around, 

Grave clothes that His body bound. 

Christ, my hope, alive and free, 

Follow Him to Galilee." 

Christ, the just, for sinners slain, 

From the dead is risen again. 

Thee, our victor King, we know — 

To us, now, Thy mercy show. 



8o 



DE MYSTERIO ASCENSIONIS 
DOMINI. 



Aortas bestras females, 
Criumpijales, ptineipales, 
&ngeli, attollite. 
3Eja, tollite actutum, 
Vtnit Homimis birtutum, 
3to aterna glotia. 
"fcJenit totus latabuntms, 
(Kantriaus et rubieuntms, 
©metis darts bestibus. 
$,oba gloriosus stola, 
(Srauiens bittute sola, 
^ftultis cinetus millibus. 
j&olus wat in egressu, 
j£en ingentem in regtessu 
&ffert multituirinem, 
jFruetum sua passtonis, 
Western resurreetionts, 
liobam eali segetem, 
3Eja, jubilate 23 eo, 
Jaeent tjostes, bicit ILeo, 
1fc7icit semen Ebralja, 
Jam ruina replebuntur, 
<Eteli eibes augebuntut, 
j2>albabuntut annua. 



8i 



THE ASCENSION OF THE LORD 



Raise the everlasting gates, 
Triumph now the Lord awaits — 

Angels raise them hastily. 
Open wide the pearly portal, 
Now ascends the Lord immortal, 

King of glory endlessly. 
Now he comes in joy sufficing, 
White and radiant in his rising — 

Vestments dyed and glorious — 
In new robes, to triumph rising, 
Walking in his strength surprising, 

With a throng victorious. 
He, alone, to earth descended, 
See him back to Heaven ascended, 

Bringing thousands with him here — 
Fruit of his incarnate dying — 
To his rising testifying — 

Heaven's harvest gathered here. 
Shout aloud Jehovah's praises — 
O'er his foes, the Lion raises 

Triumph now to Abra'm's seed. 
Now our ruin quickly ceases — 
Now the heavenly host increases — 

Souls will now be saved indeed 
ii 



g 2 DE MYSTERIO ASCENSIONIS DOMINI. 

Kegttet (Kljrtetus trittmpijator 
^ominuittque liberator, 
&tx mteericorTriae, 
^rinceps pacts, 23eus tortte 
Vim fcator, bictor mortis, 
Halts ccelestis curia?. 
&u, qui cfflum reserasti. 
3Bt in illo pra>parasti, 
Hocum tuis famults, 
,lFac mc tibt famulari, 
(Qt te pits benerari 
3$ic in terra jubilis, 
2Ut post actum bit# cursum, 
lEgo quoque scantrens sursum 
Et bioere baleam, 
Jurta ^atrem constoentem, 
Eriumpfjantcm ct regentem 
<©mnia per gloriam. 



THE ASCENSION OF THE LORD. 83 

Christ shall make his reign enduring, 
Man's redemption now securing, 

Pardoning with fidelity. 
Heavenly hosts his praises singing, 
He in strength and peace is bringing, 

Life and immortality. 
Thou the gates of heaven unbarring, 
Thou, within, a place preparing 

For thy servants dwelling here, 
Let me with thy servants joining, 
With thy worshippers combining, 

Praise thee while remaining here, 
So that when my course is ended, 
Eising as my Lord ascended, 

I may see thee ever there 
With the Father — seated by Him — 
Triumphing in glory nigh him — 

Eeigning with him everywhere 



8 4 



VENI, SANCTE SPIRITUS. 



This hymn, which Trench declares to be the loveliest 
of all the hymns in the whole circle of Latin sacred poetry, 
is another of the four principal proses — the prose for 
Pentecost. Clichtoveus says that it is beyond all praise, 
as well on account of its remarkable grace and ease, as 
of the richness and fullness of its thoughts and the finished 
beauty of its construction, seeming to show that the 
author, "whoever he may have been," was filled by the 
Holy Spirit with a heavenly sweetness, which enabled 
him to pour forth such delightful thoughts in such com- 
prehensive and appropriate language. 

It has been attributed to various authors, among 
others to Pope Innocent III. and to Hermanus Con- 
tractus, a learned monk of St. Gall. It is now commonly 
attributed to Eobert II., King of France. Archbishop 
Trench says there exists no sufficient reason for calling 
in question the attribution which has been commonly 
made of it to King Robert. I am very slow to doubt 
when so great an authority says there exists no sufficient 
reason for doubting, but I am compelled to say that I 
know of no sufficient proof that King Robert was really 
the author of it. I should be quite ready to believe that 
he had set it to music, if I were convinced that so beau- 



VENI, SANCTE SPIRITUS. 85 

tiful a specimen of rhymed accented Latin verse had been 
written before his day. In the authority quoted on page 
75, the prose written by him is said to be the Sancti 
Spiritus adsit nobis gratia, which is now usually attrib- 
uted to Notker, the first writer of proses. I borrow from 
the "Seven great hymns" an extract from the Chronicle 
of St. Bertin: "Robert etait tres pieux, prudent, lettr6 
et suffisamment philosophe, mais surtout excellent musi- 
cien. II composa la prose du St. Esprit, qui commence 
par ces mots, Adsit nobis gratia, les rhythm es Judce et 
Hierusalem, et Cornelius Centurio, qu'il offrit a Borne sur 
Tautel de St. Pierre, note avec le chant qui leur etait 
propre, de meme que l'antiphone Eripe et plusieurs autres 
beaux morceaux." The facts, that no mention is here 
made of this gem, and that Clichtoveus, a careful inquirer, 
who died in 1543, speaks of the authorship as unknown, 
or so much in dispute that he would not name the author, 
throw, certainly, some doubt on the question. I incline 
to the belief that this and the Veni Creator have lived by 
force of their innate vitality, and that, without any real 
evidence, they have been attributed to their illustrious 
supposed authors. Being worthy of the highest author- 
ship, they would naturally enough be attributed to kings 
and popes. 



86 



VENI, SANCTE SPIRITUS. 



Vtni, sancte gpiritus, 
35t emitte etelitus 

Hueis ttiap radium. 
Vmi, $ater pauperum; 
Utwi, Bator munerum ; 

Ueni, lumen eortrtum. 
(ftonsolator optime, 
©uleis ijospes anim#, 

Mulct reftigettum. 
Jn labore refutes, 
Jn astu tempettes, 

Jn fletu solatium. 
© lux oeatissima, 
Heple eorois intima 

Quorum fitrelium. 
£ine tuo ttumine 
ifrtijil est in ijomtne, 

iliijil est innoxium. 
Haba qtiotr est soroioum, 
iftiga potr est arioum, 

gana potr est saucium. 
jFleete potr est rtgioum, 
Jf obe ouotr est ftigioum, 

^ftege quotr est oebium. 



87 



COME, HOLY SPIRIT. 



Holy Spirit from above, 
Shine upon us in Thy love 

With Thy heavenly radiance. 
Father of the poor below, 
Who dost every gift bestow, 

Light our hearts to gladden us. 
Of the soul the dearest guest, 
Of the heart the sweetest rest, 

Sent of Grod to comfort us — 
Freshness for the summer's heat. 
In our tears a solace sweet, 

Sweet repose in weariness — 
Let Thy faithful in Thy sight 
Feel Thy cheering, heavenly light, 

Warming and enlightening us. 
Oh! without Thy quickening power, 
We must perish in an hour, 

Everything condemning us. 
Wash away each guilty stain, 
Water with Thy gracious rain, 

In Thy mercy healing us. 
Move our stubborn lips to praise, 
Warm our coldness with Thy rays, 

Call us from our wanderings. 



88 



VENI, SANCTE SPIRITUS. 

Ba tuis ftrelftu* 
Jn te cofitrentifms 

factum septenarium. 
23a birtutte metttum, 
Ha salutte exitum, 

29a ymnnz gauirttnn. 



VENl SANCTE SPIRITUS. 89 

Them who on Thy grace depend, 
Them, Thy faithful, ever send 

Sacred sevenfold peace with Thee. 
Give them virtue's best reward, 
Give salvation with the Lord ; 

Give them joy unceasingly. 
12 



9 D 



LAUDA, SION, SALVATOREM. 



Of all the mediaeval hymnologists, no one used the 
Latin rhymed versification in greater perfection than 
St. Thomas Aquinas, nor is there any hymn which 
better exhibits his remarkable power as a writer of 
Latin hymns, than the Lauda Sion Salvatorem, the 
prose for the holy sacrament, one of the four princi- 
pal proses. As has been before stated (page 52), it, 
together with the Pange, Lingua, Gloriosi, was written 
by St. Thomas, as part of the office for the feast of the 
Holy Sacrament, composed by him, at the request of 
Pope Urban IV., when he instituted that divinely ap- 
pointed rite as one of the regular festivals of the Roman 
Catholic Church. 

According to his view of that solemn supper, he has 
in this prose exhausted the subject, not only in its theo- 
logical and ecclesiastical sense, but in its administrative 
and receptive significance, while in the matter of versi- 
fication it leaves nothing to be desired. Its harmony is 
without a jar, and the flow of its rhythm is as easy and 
undisturbed as aptly chosen words can make it, while its 
gentle cadences are in accord with the divine love which 



LAUD A, SIOK, SALVATOREM. 91 

inspired the sacred rite. It is but just to say that he 
doubtless intended that his words should be understood 
according to the faith which the Koman Catholic Church 
now teaches; but it may also be said that the hymn 
might have been written by a Protestant, in the same 
words, without doing violence to the faith of the Pro- 
testant Church, although it does not fully express that 
faith ; and I have preferred to translate it in that 
sense. 



9 2 






LAUDA, SION, SALVATOREM. 



ILaufca, jgnon, gjalbatotem, 
Haufca trucetn & pastorem 

Jn ijgmnte & eanticte. 
(Quantum potes, tantum autre, 
<&uia major omni lauoe, 

$,ec lautrare suflicte. 
Hautits tljema specialis, 
iPanis bibuss & bitalte 

f^ooie ptoponitur. 
<£uem in sacr# mensa «en$, 
&uxb$ ftatrum Buoaen$ 

©atum non amfcigitur. 
jg>it laus plena, git sonora: 
j&it jucuntra, sit fcecora 

mentis jubilatio. 
Bies solemnis agitur, 
Jn qua mens& tecolitue, 

l^ujus institutio. 
Jn ijae mensa nobi ^egis, 
j^obum ^ascija nob# legis 

^Ijase betus terminat. 
IfcTetustatem nobitas, 
®mbram fugat beritas, 

i^octem lux eliminat. 



93 



SION, PRAISE THY SAVIOUR, 



Sion, praise thine Interceder ; 
To thy Shepherd and thy Leader 

Songs and anthems elevate. 
With thy highest powers sing Him, 
Still the praises thou canst bring Him 

Never can be adequate. 
Theme of praise, all praise transcending, 
Bread of life, from heaven descending ! 

He to us has offered it, 
As He in that final meeting, 
"When the sacred twelve were eating. 

To them freely proffered it. 
Lift aloud the voice of praising, 
Sweet and holy accents raising, 

Strains divine to execute. 
'Tis the solemn feast provided, 
Where the Lord Himself presided, 

This His feast to institute. 
Table of the Lord ascended, 
Paschal Lamb for us intended, 

Ancient form here terminates. 
New things now the old supplying, 
From the truth the shadows flying, 

Light the darkness dissipates. 



94 LAUDA, SION, SALVATOREM.' 

(©uotr in crcna Vastus gessit, 
J^acientiutu ijoc expressit 

Jn sui memoriam. 
Hocti sacris instituttjs, 
$anem, binum in salutis 

(tfonsecramus ijostiam. 
Bogma tratur Gtijristianis, 
<©uotr in carncm transit panis, 

iEt btnum in sanguinem. 
<®uoO non capis, quotr non btoes, 
glnimosa urmat litres, 

^rauer rerum oroinem. 
j£ub oibersis specieous, 
j£ignis tantum & non rebus, 

ILatent res eximia?. 
(ftaro cibus, sanguis potus, 
ffoanet tamen Otijristus totus 

j£ub utraque specie. 
H sumente non concisus, 
lion contractus, non oibisus; 

Jnteger accipitur. 
j&umit unus, sumunt mille, 
Quantum isti, tantum file: 

iBtec sumptus consumitur. 
J5umunt boni, sumunt malt, 
£orte tamen ina>quali, 

"fcTitae bel interims. 
fBlors est malts, bita bonis: 
■fcTiire paris sumptionis 

<©uam sit trispar exitus. 



LAUD A, SIOK. SALVATOREM. 95 

Doing what the Lord was doing, 
Here, His own commandment showing, 

We His love commemorate. 
Taught by Jesus' inculcation, 
Bread and wine for our salvation 

Here to Him we dedicate. 
Here to Christians Jesus preacheth, 
Here to us the mystery teacheth, 

Never sense perceiving it — 
Flesh and blood, for us devoted, 
Are by bread and wine denoted, 

Living faith believing it. 
In the different kinds He places, 
Signs of hidden gifts and graces, 

Precious things He telleth here : 
That His flesh is meat unto us, 
And His blood is drink unto us — 

In them both He dwelleth here. 
He this blessed bread that breaketh, 
He that of this wine partaketh, 

All the Saviour cherisheth ; 
All the Church on earth may break it, 
All the faithful may partake it. 

None of Jesus perisheth. 
Good and bad, together meeting, 
And the sacred supper eating, 

Each how different taketh it ! 
To the wicked condemnation, 
To the worthy sweet salvation, 

Christ the Saviour maketh it ! 



96 LAUDA, SION, SALVATOREM. 

,KFraeto Oemum Sacramento, 
ftx baeilles, seo memento 
Cantum esse sui) ftagmento 

Quantum toto tegttur. 
j&ulla rci fit seissura, 
Signi tantum fit ftaetura, 
Qua nee status nee statura 

Signati minuitur. 
lEcee pants &ngelorttm, 
J^actus etous biatorum : 
IfcTere pants filtorum, 

jfron mittenous eanibus. 
Jn figuris pra>stgnatur, 
(Slum Jsaac immolatur, 
Egnus ^ascija* oeputatur, 

Hatur manna patrious. 
93one pastor, pants bere, 
Jesu nostrt miserere, 
£u nos pasee, nos tuere, 
En nos oona fae bioere 

Jn terra bibentium. 
En qui ettneta sets & bales, 
Qui nos pascis i)ic tuortales, 
Cuos ioi eommensales, 
©oijsreoes U sooales, 

Jfac sanetorum cibium. 



LAUD A, SION, SALVATOREM. 97 

When this sacred feast thou makest, 
When thou but a morsel breakest, 
Thou the Saviour still partakest — 

He is all in all to thee. 
By the sign that is divided, 
Real food, for thee provided, 
Still unbroke, to thee confided, 

Jesus doth recall to thee. 
Angel bread, from heaven descended, 
Food to wanderers here extended, 
For the children's bread intended, 

Dogs should never take of it. 
Isaac, as a type, promoted, 
And the Paschal Lamb, devoted, 
And the manna — all denoted 

Only His might break of it. 
Thou Grood Shepherd, Bread of Heaven ! 
Jesus, let us be forgiven ! 
Feed and guard us by Thy kindness, 
Take us from our earthly blindness 

To the glory giv'n by Thee. 
Thou, all powerful and all knowing — 
Blessed food on us bestowing — 
At Thy Table with Thee eating, 
Thy coheirs together meeting, 

Let us dwell in heaven with Thee ! 

13 



9 8 



ADAM OF ST. VICTOR. 



The Abbey of St. Victor, near Paris, was one of the 
most celebrated religious houses in France seven hun- 
dred years ago — celebrated for its learning, its theology, 
its genuine devotion, and its fondness for sacred lyrics. 
It was, hence, the home and resort, as well as the parent 
and teacher, of great men. Among these Adam, a 
regular canon of the Abbey, was deservedly held in very 
high estimation for all the qualities of a devout and learned 
man. His familiarity with the Sacred Scriptures was 
most remarkable, and evidently could have been the result 
of nothing less than the most constant reading, and the 
most careful study and comparison, of the sacred writers 
in the riper years of his cultivated intellect. The Holy 
Word seemed to be almost the only language that he 
knew — so easily and gracefully did it flow from his pen 
in the harmonious lines of his lyrical compositions, of 
which one hundred and six are now extant. They 
all have the same general characteristics of style and 
versification, and in them all we are continually delighted 
with the felicity as well as the facility with which he 
writes, while he is sometimes brief and sententious with- 
out a parallel. 



ADAM OF ST. VIC TOE. 97 

Trench, in his Sacred Latin Poetry, has given us many 
of the best of his lyrics, so many and so various that we 
are made familiar with his characteristics. "We seem to 
know him. The only one of these which I have selected 
for this little book is his poem on the Martyrdom of St. 
Stephen, which Trench calls a sublime composition ; and 
we see that it well deserves the name, when, in imagina- 
tion, we -take the place of the old monk and become a 
spectator of that first martyrdom, passing with him from 
the present to that early dawn of Christianity, and from 
the description of the bloody scene, to the rapt ecstasy in 
which he apostrophizes the suffering saint and beholds the 
sympathizing Saviour in the opening heaven, upholding 
him and strengthening him in the triumph of his mar- 
tyrdom. 

Dr. Trench accords to him the highest place among the 
writers of Latin Sacred Poetry, but not without some doubt 
whether that honor may not properly belong to Arch- 
bishop Hildebert. He would except the authors of the 
Dies Irce and the Stabat Mater, if the harps on which 
those unequalled strains were improvised did not seem to 
have been immediately broken into silence. 

He died July 8, 1177, and his epitaph, written by him- 
self, was preserved for several hundred years on the 
walls of the Abbey, near the door of the choir, where 
the echo of his hymns had been so often heard. The 
tone of penitent humility, and the impressive, solemn, 
movement of the epitaph, have induced me to insert it 
here as a part of this sketch, to exhibit his character, by 
his own hand, as it was his last desire to appear. 



IOO 

EPITAPHIUM 



$a>res peccati, natura n'lius ira>, 
ISriliique reus, nascitur omnis fjomo. 
Winttt superbit ijomo, cuius conceptio 

culpa, 
i^asct piena, labor bita, necesse mori? 
T^ana salus ijomiuis, banus oecor, oms 

nta bana— 
Jnter baua niijil banius est tjomine— 
Burn magis alluoit praesentis gloria 

bitae, 
^ratterit, immo fugit— non tugit, immo 

perit. 
IJost ijominem bermis, post bermem n't 

etuis, ijeu, Ijeu ! 
j£ic retrit at» cinerem gloria nostra simul. 
I^ic ego pi jaceo, miser et miseratulis 

&oam, 
©nam pro summo munere poseo pre= 

eem— 
^eccabi, fateor, beniam peto, paree fas 

tenti, 
$arce pater ; fratres pareite ; paree 

Heus! 



IOl 

E P I T A P II 



An heir of sin and child of wrath by nature here 

below, 
A stranger every man is born — an exile's life to 

know. 
Whence doth he boast himself in pride whose 

thought is guilt, innate, 
Whose birth is pain, whose life is toil, and death 

his only fate ? 
Vain health of man, vain beauty too, vain boast of 

earthly pride, 
Vain thing is man, among the vain, vainer than all 

beside. 
The glory of this present life, what time it doth 

delight, 
Doth quickly pass, not pass but fly, not fly but 

perish quite. 
And then, to man the worm succeeds, and after 

worms the dust, 
At once to dust he must return with every earthly 

trust. 
And I, poor Adam lying here, 'tis mercy all I need, 
One only prayer I now can make — for heaven's 

last gift I plead, 
My sins confess, my pardon seek — oh let a sinner live ! 
Father, and brothers in the faith, and God, oh God, 

forgive ! 



102 



DE. S. STEPHANO. 



I^ert muntrus eiultabit, 
iBt eiultans celebrabit 
<Eijrissti natalttia. 
I^ert rijorus angelorum 
^tosecutus est ctelorum 
^tegem cum tetttta. 
iJrotomattgr et Hebita, 
<ftlarus fitoe, clarus bita, 
OTlarus et mtracults, 
j£ub Jac luce trtumpijabit, 
3St ttiumpljans insultabtt 
j&tepijanus increoulis. 
jFremunt ergo tanquam (era?, 
(^uta btctt oefecece 
iLucis afcbersarti. 
JF alsos testes statuuttt, 
IBt Unguas exacuunt 
Utperarum nlit. 
&gontsta, nulli cetre— 
Otetta ceetus tre mctcetre, 
^ersebcra j^teptyane— 
Jflnsta talsis testibus, 
tftontuta sermtmtbus 
£gnagcigam j£atana\ 



io3 



ST. STEPHEN 



Yesterday the world, elated, 
With their praises celebrated 

Jesus Christ's nativity ; 
Angels, then their voices raising, 
Were the King of Heaven praising, 

Joyful in festivity. 
Stephen, proto-martyr, Deacon, 
In his faith and life a beacon, 

Mighty, too, in miracles, 
This day, to his triumph rising, 
Was in triumph then despising 

Cruel Jews and infidels. 
They like beasts of prey were raging, 
Their secure defeat presaging, 

And of light the enemies — 
Lying witnesses providing, 
And with sharpened tongues deriding- 

Sons of vipers venomous ! 
Stephen, strive, thy strife enduring, 
And thy sure reward securing, . 

Persevere to victory. 
Fear not witnesses abounding, 
All confute, with truth confounding 

Satan's desperate synagogue. 



I 04 DE S. STEPHANO. 

.jFortis tints est in cielis, 
testis berax et fiotlis, 
testis innocentia*. 
$,omen fjabes coronati, 
&e tormenta tieeet pati 
pro corona glorias 
pro eorona non tnareenti 
perter brebis bim tormenti, 
&e manet bictoria. 
&ibi net mors, natalis, 
2Titi ptena terminalis 
29 at bit$ primortria. 
IBn ! a Trextris 29 ei stantem 
Jesum, pro te oimicantem, 
j&tepijane, consioera. 
2Titi ctelos reserari, 
EM (Stljristum rcbelari 
©lama boce libera, 
pienus sancto spiritu 
Penetrat intuitu 
j&tepijanus cielestia. 
"fcXibens 23 ei gloriam 
(tfrescit afc bictoriam, 
j£uspirat atr pr^mia. 
j£e commentrat jg>albatori, 
pro quo Trulce oucit mori 
jg?ub ipsis lapioibus. 
j&aulus serbat omnium 
testes lapioantium, 
Hapioans in omnibus. 



ST. STEPHEN. IO5 

In the skies thy witness liveth, 
And, in faith and truth, he giveth 

Fullest proof of innocence. 
Crowned is the name thou wearest, 
And the tortures that thou bearest 

Give thy crown its radiance. 
For a crown of light, unfading, 
Meet the force of pain, invading — 

Victory shall remain with thee. 
Death to thee becometh natal, 
For its final pang so fatal, 

Giveth endless life to thee. 
See, by God's right hand is standing 
Jesus, for thee help commanding — 

Stephen, see he aideth thee ; 
For thee, heavenly gates unsealing, 
For thee, Christ the Lord revealing — 

Cry unto him earnestly. 
Stephen is to heaven gazing, 
On the heavenly scenes amazing — 

Holy Ghost sustaining him ; 
God's full glory to him showing, 
While to victory he is going — 

Love and hope constraining him. 
To the Lord his soul commending, 
Sweet he finds the death impending, 

While the stones are bruising him ; 

And young Saul, the garments holding 

Of those stoning, is upholding, 

And, himself, is using them, 
u 



io6 



DE S. STEPHANO. 

jfre peccatum statuatut 
?$te, a quifm* lapitratur 
(genu pontt et prccatur, 
(tfontiolnts insaniae— 
Sit (Kijrtsto sic obtiormibit, 
^ui <Ei)risto sic otctiibit, 
iSt cum (tfljristo semper bibit, 
iftartgntm primitifc. 



ST. STEPHEN. IO7 

"Lord forgive them," hear him saying, 
For the men who him are slaying, 
On his bended knee now praying — 

Praying God to pardon them. 
Thus, in Christ, the martyr sleeping, 
To him thus obedience keeping, 
In him liveth without weeping — 

First fruits these of martyrdom. 



io8-/a-<> 



DIES IR ^E 



" Of all the Latin hymns of the Church, this has the 
widest fame. The grand use which Goethe has made 
of it in his Faust may have helped to bring it to the 
knowledge of some who would not otherwise have known 
it, or, if they had, would not have believed its worth, if 
the sage and seer of this world, a prophet of their own, 
had not thus set his seal of recognition upon it. To 
another illustrious man this hymn was eminently dear. 
How affecting is that incident recorded of Sir Walter 
Scott by his biographer, how, in those last clays of his, 
when all of his great mind had failed, or was failing, he 
was yet heard to murmur to himself some lines of this 
hymn, an especial favorite with him in other days. Nor 
is it hard to account for its wide and general popularity. 
The metre, so grandly devised, of which I remember no 
other example, fitted though it has here shown itself for 
bringing out some of the noblest powers of the Latin 
language ; the solemn effort of the triple rhyme, which 
has been likened to blow following blow of the hammer 
on the anvil; the confidence of the poet in the univer- 
sal interest of his theme, a confidence which has made 
him set out his matter with so majestic and unadorned 
a plainness as at once to be intelligible to all — these 
merits, with many more, have given the Dies Irce a fore- 



DIES IRJE. 1 09 

most place among the master-pieces of sacred song." — 
Trench. 

Its great power, its universal sympath}^ with every 
man, lbs in its absolute selfishness — not in a bad sense, 
in the highest and purest and best sense — and in the 
sincerity and earnestness of its simple and natural lan- 
guage. It is the language of one man, in relation to 
himself alone, in view of the awful realities of that ulti- 
mate responsibility which all right-minded men so often 
feel, and which all men, the most hardened even, some- 
times feel with great solemnity. The conflagration, the 
judge, the trumpet, the book, the whole scene, are men- 
tioned only to give force to the exclamation, " Quid sum, 
miser! tunc dicturusf ' " "What can I then say?" And 
every confession and every prayer is for individual self, and 
is a renunciation of all hope, except through the free grace 
of Christ. The last stanza is omitted in some copies. 
Trench omits it, as do some others. If it be translated, 
as it sometimes is, as a prayer for the salvation of all 
mankind at the last day, then it certainly is not in har- 
mony with the rest of the hymn, and ought to be omitted. 
On the other hand, if it be translated as it is here, and 
has been by some others, and as it clearly should be, 
rendering the last line "Spare me," then the last stanza, 
instead of being feeble and inconsequent, becomes a har- 
monious and proper close of a hymn with such a beginning. 

It is usually ascribed to Thomas of Celano, an Italian 
monk of the thirteenth century ; but I think, with Trench, 
that there is no certainty — I should say but little proba- 
bility — that the authorship belongs to him. 



no 



DIES I RM 



Bies (retries ilia! 
jjolbet sa>clum in tabilla, 
Eeste Babio cum j£goilla. 
<©uantus tremor est tuturus, 
(©uantro Juoer est benturus, 
<£uncta stricte otscussurus. 
£uba mirum spargens sonum 
$er sepulcra regionum, 
Coget omnes ante tijronum. 
Uflors stupebit, et natura, 
<®uum resurget crcatura, 
Juiricanti responsura. 
Hiber scriptus proteretur, 
Jn quo totum continetur, 
WMtit muntrus fuoicetur. 
Jutrex ergo cum setreoit, 
(£uftr<iuio latet, appareoit : 
|iil inultum remaneoit. 
<©uitr sum, miser! tunc Tricturus 
<®uem patronum rogaturus, 
Quum bir Justus sit securus ? 



Ill 



THE DAY OF WRATH. 



Day of threatened wrath from heaven, 
To the sinful, unforgiven ! 
Earth on fire, to ashes driven ! 
Oh, the guilty, how affrighted ! 
That each wrong shall then be righted, 
And with blazing truth be lighted ! 
Loud the trumpet will be blowing, 
All on earth the sound be knowing, 
And to answer will be going. 
Death amazed will then be quaking — 
As the dead of ages waking, 
Shall their fearful doom be taking. 
From the Book then opened newly, 
Every sinful deed must, duly, 
Then be heard and answered truly. 
God, the Judge, will then be dealing, 
With each hidden thought and feeling, 
And the last award be sealing. 
What shall wretched I be saying ? 
To what Friend for help be praying ? 
Fear the righteous then dismaying ! 

in 



1 I 2 DIES IR^E. 

fctx tremens majestatis, 
<5|ui salbantros salbas gratis, 
j^alba me, tons pietatis ! 
3£ecort»are, Jesu pie, 
<&uoti sum causa tu# bi# ; 
jBte me peroas ilia trie ! 
(©uaerens me, setristi lassus, 
Heoemisti, crucem passus : 
&antus labor non sit cassus. 
Juste Juoex ultionis, 
©onum tac remissionis 
&nte iiiem rationis. 
Jngemisco tanquam reus, 
Otulpa rubet bultus meus ; 
g>upplicanti parce, Heus ! 
<©ui iftariam absolbisti, 
St latronem exauoisti, 
Mfyi quoque spent oetiisti. 
$reces mm non sunt oigna% 
Sei &u bonus tac benigne 
$U perenni cremer igne ! 
Jnter obes locum graesta, 
3Bt ab i)^ots me sequestra, 
gtatuens in parte tiextra. 
(Stontutatis malebictis, 
jFlammis acribus atrtiictis, 
IJoca me cum benefcictis! 
c©ro supplex et acclinis, 
<£or contritum quasi cinis, 
(Sere curam mci finis. 



DIES IB^E. I 1 3 

King of Kings, all powers enthralling, 
Without price Thy chosen calling, 
Pity, save my soul from falling ! 
Jesus, cradled in a manger — 
For my sake on earth a stranger — - 
Save me in that day of danger ! 
For me weary, all things needing — ■ 
On the cross in anguish bleeding — 
Do not lose such toil and pleading ! 
God the righteous, never sleeping ! 
Oh ! forgive a sinner weeping ! 
While Thy love is mercy keeping ! 
Lost without Thy blood atoning — 
Blushes mingling with my groaning — 
Spare my soul in sorrow moaning ! 
Sinful Mary Thou forgavest, 
And the dying thief Thou savedst, 
Ground of hope to me Thou gavest. 
Prayers unworthy to Thee sending, 
Be Thy goodness still befriending ; 
Save me from the fire unending ! 
With Thy chosen flock forever, 
When the sheep and. goats shall sever 
On Thy right hand keep me ever ! 
When, in fire, the cursed gather, 
Let me hear Thee saying, rather, 
" Come, thou blessed of my Father !" 
Trusting to Thy goodness wholly — 
Crushed in heart, and bending lowly — 
Save at last, Thou Just and Holy ! 

15 



I 1 4 DIES IRM. 

Hacrgmosa tries ilia ! 
0ua resurget ex fabtlla, 
Jutitcantrug tomo reus ; 
$utc ergo parte, 30eus ! 



DIES IRA.. I I 5 

In that day when, weeping, quaking, 
Man shall rise, from dust awaking, 
In thine arms, Jesus ! bear me — 
From Thy curses, God, oh I spare me ! 



u6 



THE DAY OF WRATH. 



ANOTHER VERSION. 



Day of wrath ! that final day, 
Shall the world in ashes lay ! 
David and the Sibyl say. 
Oh ! what trembling there shall be, 
When the coming Judge we see, 
All to try impartially ! 
When the trumpet's awful sound 
Bursts the graves beneath the ground, 
Calling all the throne around. 
Death amazed, and Nature, too, 
See the dead arise to view, 
To their just and final due. 
There the record will be shown, 
In which everything is known, 
Whence to judge the world alone. 
When the Judge is seated, then 
Shall each sin appear again — 
Not unpunished one remain. 
Wretched me ! what shall I say? 
Who will plead for me that day, 
When the just themselves must pray? 



DIES IR^E. 117 

King of Majesty divine ! 
Freely saving who are Thine, 
Save me, Fount of Love divine ! 
Blessed Jesus ! think, I pray, 
For me was Thy weary way — 
Do not lose me in that day ! 
Sought by Thee in toil and pain, 
By Thy cross redeemed again, 
Let Thy sufferings not be vain ! 
Judge ! Thy vengeance, oh ! delay ; 
Grant me pardon, here I pray, 
Now, before that reckoning day. 
Humbly I my sorrow speak, 
Blushes burn my guilty cheek, 
Spare me, God, while thus I seek ; 
Mary, Thy free grace forgave, 
Grace the dying thief did save, 
Hope of grace to me it gave. 
All unworthy is my prayer, 
But thy goodness still declare ; 
Let me not in flames despair ! 
When Thy sheep, by Thy command, 
From the goats divided stand, 
Place me then on Thy right hand. 
When the cursed in their shame 
Writhe in everlasting flame, 
With the blessed call my name. 
Bowed and lowly, hear my cry ! 
See my heart in ashes lie ! 
Oh ! protect me when I die ! 



n8 



DIES IRM. 



On that final day of tears, 
When before Thy bar appears 
Man, from ashes risen again, 
Spare me, God, oh ! spare me then ! 



THE DAY OF WRATH. 

ANOTHER VERSION. 

Day of wrath, with vengeance glowing, 
Seer and Sj^bil long foreknowing ! 
Earth and time to rain going ! 
How the guilty world will tremble 
When the Judge shall all assemble, 
And not one will dare dissemble ! 
When the trumpet's summons, swelling 
Through Death's dark and dusty dwelling, 
To the throne is all compelling ! 
Death with fear will then be quailing, 
As the dead of ages, wailing, 
Rise to judgment, without failing. 
Then the book of God's own writing — 
Truth alone the pages lighting — 
Will be guilty souls indicting, 
Every secret thought and feeling, 
To the Judge at once revealing, 
None excusing, none concealing. 



DIES IRM I I 9 

How shall wretched I be pleading ? 
Through what patron interceding, 
When the just are mercy needing? 
King, all majesty expressing, 
By free grace, Thy saved possessing, 
Save me, Fount of heavenly blessing ! 
Jesus, think what woes thou tasted, 
While for me to death thou hasted ; 
Let them not at last be wasted. 
Thou didst seek me, sad and sighing, 
God forsaken in Thy dying ! 
Be not fruitless all Thy trying. 
Bighteous Judge, thy wrath delaying, 
Pardon me while I am praying ! 
While the day of grace is staying. 
Groaning, guilty, hear me speaking ! 
Blushes, sin and shame bespeaking ; 
Spare me, Lord, thy pardon seeking. 
Sinful Mary was forgiven, 
Thou didst call the thief to heaven, 
Hope to me was also given. 
Worthless are the prayers I'm raising ; 
Save me by Thy grace, amazing, 
From the fire for ever blazing ! 
From the goats, Lord, divide me ! 
And among Thy sheep, beside Thee, 
On Thy right, my place provide me. 
When the cursed, downward driven, 
To eternal flames are given, 
Call me with the blest to heaven. 



I 20 DIES IRM 

Listen, Lord, to my petition — 
Crushed in heart, in deep contrition — - 
Save, oh ! save me, from perdition. 
On that day of bitter weeping, 
When from dust and mortal sleeping, 
Man is called to final hearing, 
Spare me, God, on my appearing ! 



121 



rn 



rHOMAS A KBMPIS. 



Thomas a Kempis — Thomas Hamerken of Campen or 
Kempen — was born at Kempen in the Province of Over 
Yssel in Holland in 1380. He was educated at the 
University of Deventer, the Capital of the province, and 
afterwards entered among members of the Monastery of 
Mount St. Agnes, of the Order of St. Augustin. He 
there displayed great piety, patience and self-denial. He 
joined the Order of the Brothers of the Common Life, 
which was first established at Deventer, by Gerhard, the 
great, who was a native of Over Yssel. The members 
of that order had no monastic vows and devoted their 
lives to preaching and to teaching letters and religion to 
the young, supporting themselves by their industry, 
which they applied, principally, to copying books. He 
died in 1471, in the 91st year of his age. 

Wherever the Gospel is preached, the influence of this 
devout man is felt. The "Imitation of Christ," which is 
now generally attributed to him, next after the Bible has 
been more frequently printed and more widely read, than 
any other religious book. It has been translated into 
every Christian language, and has been the welcome com- 
panion of devout Christians of eveiy denomination. It is 
said that a traveling monk found an Arabic copy of it 
in the library of a king of Morocco, which his Moorish 
majesty prized beyond all his other books. 

The following is considered the best of his poems. 

16 



122 



DE GAUDIIS CCELESTIBUS. 



^stant angelorum eljori, 

Hautres eantant (ttreatori, 

Regent eernunt in treeore, 

&mant eortre, lautiant ore. 

Cnmoanijant, eitijarijant, 

IXolant alls, statu in sealte, 

Sonant nolis, fulgent stolte. 

Coram £>umma Erinitate, 

Clamant jg>anetus, jg>anctus, j^anctus ! 

jfugit oolor, eessat planetus 
Jn suoerna cibitate. 
Coneors box est omnium, 
29eum collautrentium. 
JFerbet amor mentium 
Clare eontuentium, 
Beatam Crinitatem in una ©ettate, 
<®uam aoorant j£erapi)im 
jferbenti in amore, 
Venerantur Cfjeruoim 
Jngenti smo fjonore— 
ilUrantur nimis ©ijroni ire tanta majes: 
tate. 






I2 4 3 



THE JOYS OF HEAVEN 



Angel choirs on high, are singing, 
To the Lord their praises bringing, 
Yielding him in royal beauty 
Heart and voice, in love and duty ; 
Waving wings the throne surrounding, 
Timbrels, harps, and bells are sounding, 
See their heavenly vestments glisten, 
To their heavenly music listen ; 
Hear them, by the Godhead staying, 
Holy, holy, holy, saying. 

None that grieveth, or complaineth, 
In that heavenly land remaineth — 
Every voice, in concord joining 
Holy praise to God combining. 
Holy love their minds disposeth, 
Heavenly light to all discloseth 
Blessed Three in God united — 
Seraphs worshipping delighted, 
Sweet affection overflowing — 
Cherubim their rev'rence showing, 
Bowing low, their pinions folding- 
God's majestic throne beholding. 



124 DE GAUD IIS CCELESTIBUS. 

<!Mj pam preelara regio ! 
lEt quam iiecora legio 
3Bx angelis et ijo minibus ! 
<©i) gloriosa cibitas, 
Jn qua gumma tranQuillitas, 
Hux et pax in cunctis ftnibus ! 
Otibes ljujus eibitatis 
Ueste nitent casstitatts, 
Hegem tenent caritatis, 
^jfirmum pactum unitatis. 
j^on laborant, nil ignorant, 
j^on tentantur, nee bexantur, 
J&emper sani, semper l&ti, 
€unetis bonis sunt repleti. 



THE JO YS OF HE A VEK l 2 ~ 



Oh ! what fair and heavenly region ! 
Oh ! what bright and glorious legion, 
Saints and angels, all excelling ! 
In that glorious city dwelling. 
Which in rest divine reposeth, 
And sweet light and peace discloseth I 
Every one who there resideth, 
Clad in purity abideth, 
Charity their spirits joining — 
Firm in unity combining — 
Toil nor ign'rance undergoing — 
Trouble nor temptation knowing : 
Always health and joy undying, 
To them every good supplying. 



126 



THE DAY OP DEATH. 

DAMIANI. 

St. Peter Damiani was an illustrious Doctor of the 
Catholic Church in the eleventh century. He was born 
at Ravenna, about the year 1006, and he died at Faenza, 
in 1072. He is said to have been a swine-herd in his 
youth, and to have been taken from that humble employ- 
ment by his brother, who was Archdeacon of Ravenna, 
and educated under his care. On the completion of his 
studies he quit the world and entered the Hermitage of 
Font-Avellana, and in 1061 was made Abbot of it. He 
was so much impressed with the crimes and vices of the 
age in which he lived, many of which had entered the 
Church, that he devoted his energies to their reformation, 
especially so far as the clergy were concerned, and with 
the greatest zeal cooperated with the popes of his time, 
Gregory VI., Clement II., Leo IX., Victor II., and 
Stephen IX., in their efforts to reform the Church. 
Stephen created him Cardinal Bishop of Ostia. The 
ostentation of that office, however, ill-befitted his love 
of solitude and devotion, and he resigned his hat and 
returned to the Hermitage as a simple monk, ten years 
before he died. He was several times called out of it 
to perform missions of great importance, but in the midst 
of courts, as well as in the Hermitage, he lived in pov- 
erty and austerity. 



THE DA Y OF DEATH. j 2 j 

The following hymn, De Die Mortis, is among the best 
of his many poems. I take it from Trench. I do not 
know whether it has been before translated. I have 
selected it for its solemn movement, its descriptive 
details, its striking images, its devout aspirations, and 
its impressive doctrine — all in harmony with the subject. 

In a note to this devout hymn of Damiani, Trench 
copies at length the hymn of the Cygnus Exspirans, 
which I have inserted here for its striking contrast with 
the De Die Mortis, and for its beauty as well. It is found 
in some modern collections of mediaeval hymns, without 
the name, so far as I know, of even a supposed author, 
and it seems to lack the marks as well as the unction 
of media? val song — hardly hinting at religion. With the 
exception of one or two stanzas, it might, so far as 
Christianity is concerned, have been written by Epicurus. 
Trench says of it: "I know no fitter place to append 
a poem which can claim no room in the body of this 
collection, being almost without any distinctly Christian 
element whatever, and little more than a mere worldly 
lamentation at leaving a world which he knows he has 
abused, yet would willingly, if he might, continue still 
longer to abuse. But even from that, something may be 
learned, and there is a force and originality about the 
composition which make me willing to insert it here, 
especially as it is very far from common. I would gladly 
know something more about it." The title found in the 
books is retained here, although I once caused it to be 
published under the title of The Dying Voluptuary. 



128 



DE DIE MORTIS. 



(grabi me terrore puteas, bCta? trtess uU 

tima ; 
Motxtt cor, ssolbuntur renes, tesa tres 

munt biscera, 
®uam gpeciem imm sioi mens trepingtt 

anxia. 
<Suis enim pabenTmm illutr explicet 

spectaculum, 
<©uum, oimenao bits cursu, carnis $gra 

nexious 
minima luctatur solbi, propinquans a* 

exitum? 
$erit census, lingua rtget, resolbuntur 

oculi, 
pectus aaipttat, anfjelat raucum guttur 

Ijominis, 
gjtupent memora, patient ora, trecor aoit 

corporis. 
$ra>0to sunt et cogitatuss, beroa, cur= 

sus, opera, 
3Bt pr& oculte nolentis glomerantur 

omnia : 



129 



THE DAY OF DEATH. 



With terror thou dost strike me now, life's fear- 
ful dying day — 
My heart is sad, my loins are weak, my spirit faints 

away, 
While to my saddened soul, thy sight my anxious 
thoughts display. 
Who can that dreadful sight describe, or without 
trembling see, 
When from the ended course of life, the weary soul 

would flee, 
And, sick of all the bonds of flesh, it struggles to 
be free ? 
The senses fail, the tongue is stiff, the eyes uncer- 
tain stray — 
The panting breath and gasping throat, the coming 

end betray — 
From palsied limbs and pallid lips all charm has 
fled away. 
Now spring at once to view, past thoughts and 
words and deeds and life — 
Before unwilling eyes they come, all crowding 
fresh and rife, 

IT 



j ~ DE DIE MORTIS. 

JHuc tentiat, ijuc sc bertat, coram bioet 

postta. 
Sinjuet ipsa reum sinum moroax con= 

sctentia, 
lilorat apta corrigenoi trefluxisse tem= 

pora; 
^lena luctu caret ftuctu sera pteniten= 

tia. 
,lFalsa tunc trulcetio carnis in amarum 

bertitur, 
(Buantio brebem boluptatem perpes ptena 

sequitur ; 
Jam quoti magnum crefceoatur nil tuisse 

cemitur. 
(©useso, <£1jriste, rex inbicte,tu succurre 

miscro, 
j£uu extrema mortis tot:a cum jussus 

abiero, 
Nullum in me jus tgranno pr^oeatur 

impio. 
(Eafcat princeps tenetrarum, catrat pars 

tartarea ; 
pastor, obem jam retremptam tunc refcuc 

ao patriam, 
WLhi te btoenM causa pertruar in sa?c= 

ula. 



THE DA Y OF DEA TIL x ~ j 

And stand revealed before the mind, that shrinks 
with timid strife. 
And biting conscience tortures now the trem- 
bling, guilty, breast, 

And weeps the loss of perished hours, that might 
have given rest — 

Too late repentance, full of grief, no proper fruit 
has blessed. 
Of the false sweetness of the flesh, what bitter- 
ness remains, 

When the brief pleasure of this life, is turned to 
endless pains, 

And all life's idols here below, the dying hour dis- 
dains. 
I pray Thee, Jesus, grant me, then, Thine own 
almighty aid, 

When I shall enter at the last, in death's dark 
valley shade — 

Let not the tyrant foe, I pray, my trembling soul 
invade. 
! from the Prince of Darkness, then, and hell's 
dark prison save ! 

And take me ransomed to Thy home, Good Shep- 
herd, now I crave, 

Where I may live in endless life, with Thee be- 
yond the grave. 



132 



CYGNUS EXSPIRANS. 



^aretrtrum est, centrum est, 
iftlauirenira bit& seena ; 
IBst jaeta sors, me bocat mots, 
f^ac tyora est posteema : 
Ualete res, balete spes ; 
gie unit cantilena. 

© magna lux, sol, muntri trux, 
3Bst conceirenoum fatts ; 
©uc lineam eclipticam, 
fttiiji luxisti satis : 
Jiox incuoat ; fax occtoit ; 
Jam portum stioit ratis. 

®u €gttti)ta argentea, 
Uos, aurei planets, 
(turn stellttlis, ocellulis, 
iBiepotibus lucete ; 
Natalia, letalia 
J&i nunciant comets. 

Cer centies, tee millies 
Uale, immuntie muntre ! 
Jnstaoilis et laoilts, 
Uale, oeois e otunfce ! 



*33 



THE DYING SWAN 



I must obey, I may not stay, 
The scene of life is ending, 
The lot is cast, Death calls at last, 
My final hour's impending. 
Farewell estate and hopes elate — 
All like a song are ending. 

Thou glorious sun, my day is done, 
But thou, thy journey keeping, 
Go on thy way, great king of day — 
I must in death be sleeping. 
Night's pall is spread, the light is fled, 
My bark to port is sweeping. 

Thou moon serene with silver sheen, 
Ye planets golden seeming, 
And little eyes that star the skies, 
For my descendants beaming, 
The Fates' decree of death to me, 
Is told by comets streaming. 

Three hundred times, three thousand times 
Farewell, thou world defiling, 
Unsteady thou and slippery now, 
Farewell, with all thy smiling. 



'34 



CTGNUS EXSPIRANS. 

iftetrtraette, fallaette, 
Uttstett me abunoe. 

Hucentta, tulgentta 
(Bemmts balete tecta, 
£eu marmore, seu ebore 
j&upra nubes erecta. 
&& parbulum me loculum 
iHors urget equis beeta. 

Utieretiae, qua* epeete 
(Sgpsata me eeptstte, 
imagines, boragtnes ! 
<©u& mentem sorbuistte, 
3Sn oeulos, ijeu ! eeopulos, 
lErtingutt umbra tristts. 

Crtpuoia, oiluota, 
iSt feseennini efjori, 
(©uieseite, raucesette ; 
$ra>eo tiibmi fori, 
Jilorg, tntonat et insonat 
fitune lessum ; 29ebes mod. 

21elteta>, lautttta? 
ifflensarum eum eulina ; 
<£ellarta, Mlarta, 
3St eoronata btna, 
"fcXos nauseo, oum ijaurto 
<®uem segpljum mors propinat. 

,jFaees!Stte, putresette, 
©Oores, besttmenta ; 
Migeseite, oelieia^, 



THE DYING SWAN. 

With falsehoods sweet and artful cheat 
No longer me beguiling. 

Ye castles bright, with gems bedight, 
Farewell ! in air erected, 
With marble walls or ivory halls, 
In Fancy's skies reflected. 
I seek my bed among the dead, 
By Death's pale steeds directed. 

Ye beauties rare, whose charms so fair, 
My captive sense delighted; 
Delirious dream of love supreme 
That all my mind excited, 
Your siren eyes, where danger lies, 
Are now in death benighted. 

Ye dances vain and sports profane, 
In wanton chorus singing, 
Be still I pray, your orgies stay, 
God's summons now is ringing; — 
His crier, Death, with startling breath 
My mortal sentence bringing. 

Delights of life with luxury rife, 
The table's social pleasure ; 
The dainty meats, the honeyed sweets, 
And wine-cup's crowned treasure. 
I loathe you all, while Death doth call 
To pledge his brimming measure. 

Haste ye away, fade and decay, 
Ye rich perfumes and dresses ; 
Be cold and stale, ye pleasures frail, 



l 3S 



136 



CTGNUS EXSPIRANS. 

Htbtomum fomenta ! 
Deftttmium me bermium 
Jttanent operimenta. 

© culmina, ijeu ! tulmtna, 
i^orum ftigar Ijonorum, 
Cam subito irum sufceo 
SEternitatis iromum. 
Sfttotcult sunt tituli ; 
jForts et agtmt momum. 

Eectisstmi, cartsstmt 
Emtct et sotrales, 
f^eu ! tnsolens et imputrens 
J&ors mterturoat sales. 
g>at lustims inoulstmus : 
IBrtremum inco bale ! 

En fcentyue, corpus, bale, 
Et, tt citaott forum \ 
Et consctum, tt soeium 
Bolorum et gauoiorum! 
^Squalls nos erpectai sors— 
ISonorum bel malorum. 



THE DYING SWAN. j ~ 7 

Provoking love's caresses. 

Foul worms shall dress, in loathsomeness, 

The grave my body presses. 

On glory's height, what bolts may light ! 
I leave these honors fleeting; 
As hence I go, my fate to know, 
Eternity now meeting. 
Title and fame and noble name, 
How worthless and how cheating ! 

Ye chosen few, my comrades true, 
Dear friends my pleasure sharing ; 
Insulting Death stops every breath, 
No wit or wisdom sparing : 
And here to-day I leave our play, 
My last farewell declaring. 

Body, farewell ! thy fate I tell, 
This final summons hearing ; 
Thou too hast known and called thine own, 
My griefs and joys endearing. 
Body and mind, in life combined, 
One goal are always nearing. 

18 



*3» 



PRUDENTIUS. 



Aurelius Clemens Prudentius was a native of 
Spain, born in the year 348. He was bred a lawyer, and 
although his youth was stained with follies and vices 
upon which, in later life, he looked back with shame and 
disgust, and his professional career was less characterized 
by a love of justice than an unscrupulous strife for 
success, he filled many high civil and military stations 
under the Emperors Theodosius, and his sons, Arcadius 
and Honorius, including eminent judicial positions, in 
which he says : 

Bis legum moderamine 

Frenos nobilium reximus iirbium, 

Jus civile bonis redidimus, terruimus reos. 

He finally withdrew from the honors and employments 
of the world, to the quiet of a religious and literary life. 
He wrote many poems of great but unequal merit, all of 
them exhibiting the characteristic culture of a man of the 
world, whose philosophic mind, trained in the schools and 
versed in the sharpening activities of earnest professional 
and public life, had voluntarily left those profane honors 
and enjoyments for the purer tastes and higher pleasures 
of humility and devotion. His Cathemerinon is consid- 



PRUDENTIUS. x «g 

ered the best of his works. It consists of a collection of 
poems appropriate to the duties of daily life. " Hymni 
omnibus diurnis actionibus com 'ententes." His funeral 
hymn, Hymnus in Exequiis Defunctorum is the tenth of 
these, and is by common consent the best of all his 
hymns. It is a noble poem on Death, the Grave, and the 
Resurrection, consisting of forty-three stanzas, portions 
of which, sometimes more and sometimes less, selected 
variously, have been published in collections, Protestant 
as well as Catholic. I have not seen anywhere, except 
in Trench, the concluding portion of the hymn separated 
from all the rest. In the following hvmn I have taken 
the same concluding stanzas, considering them to have, 
besides their individual beauty, a collectiv-e unity and 
beauty which have not always been found in the other 
selections, and which commend them, especially, to quiet, 
religious contemplation. 

The time of the death of Prudentius, as well as the 
place of his birth, are unknown. 



140 



IN EXEQUIIS DEFUNCTORUM. 



Jam ntoesta piesee querela, 
ILacijrptas suspenoite, mattes, 
jButllus sua pignora plangat, 
Hflors ijaee reparatio bita> est. 

£ic sentina steea bireseunt, 
Jam mottua jamcjue sepulta, 
<&m retroita ea>spite at into 
IJeteres meoitantur aristas. 

i^une suscipe, terra, tobentrum, 
(^remtope ijunc eoneipe molli, 
f^ominis ttW memora sequestro, 
(©enerosa et tragmina ereiro. 

&nim& tuft ijaee oomus oiim, 
^Faetoris ab ore create, 
J^erbens ijabitabit in istis 
j&apientia prineipe GMjristo. 

Em oepositum tege eorpus, 
|lon immemot ille requiret 
g>ua munera netor et auctor, 
^ropriipe amigntata bultus. 

Ueniant motro tempora justa, 
(ftunt spent Beus impleat omnent, 
9£efctras patefaeta neeesse est, 
(©ualem tioi traoo figurant. 



I 4 I 



A FUNERAL HYMN, 



Be still the voice of sorrow here — 
Ye mothers, dry your weeping eyes — ■ 
Let no one mourn his children dear — 
From death a better life shall rise. 

Dry seeds begin to live anew, 
When dead and buried in the ground — 
And from the earth restored to view, 
In living blades again are found. 

This body take to cherish, Earth, 
As to thy gentle bosom's dust, 
These limbs, to which thou gavest birth, 
These noble relics we entrust. 

For here once dwelt a living soul, 
Created by the breath divine — 
And wisdom, Jesus did control, 
These mortal relics did enshrine. 

Protect thou, Earth, the body, then, 
Within the grave in silence laid, 
For God will call to Him again, 
What was in His own image made. 

The time shall surely come once more, 
When hope shall see these relics liv( 
When thou must open and restore 
The form which now to thee we give. 



j. 2 IN EXE$UIIS DEFUNCT'ORUM. 

i^on si cariosa betustas 
©issolberit ossa fabillis, 
J^ueritQue ciniscttlus arens 
i&linimi mensura pugilli: 

$iec si baga flttmina, et aura, 
Dacuum per inane bolantes, 
©ulerint cum jmlbere nerbos, 
l^ominem periisse licebit. 

j£etr turn resolutive corpus 
Mebocas, 20eus, atque retormas, 
(©uanam regione jubebis 
&nf mam requiescere puram ? 

©remio senis abotta sanctt 
Mecubabit, ut tUn Hajari, 
(©item ttoribtts unoipe septum 
23tbes procttl aspictt arorns. 

geauimur tua tricta, Ifteoemptor, 
Ouibus atra a tnorte triumpljans, 
&ua per bestigia mantras 
£>ocium crucis ire latronem. 

$atet ecce nirelibus ampli 
Uta lucitra jam paraoisi, 
Hicet et nemus illutr atrire, 
Domini quotr atremerat anguis. 

iHos tecta fobebimus ossa 
Uiolis et frontre frequcnti, 
ftitulumaue et frigiira sara 
HiquiOo spargemus ooore. 



A FUNERAL HYMN. J4 ~ 

Nor if the perishing decay 
Should turn these bones to ashes here, 
And but the smallest handful stay 
To show where now these limbs appear — 

Nor should the winds and waters rise, 
And hence in sweeping currents bear 
This frame and earth wherein it lies, 
Could man be made to perish there. 

But when the changed and mouldered frame, 
Thou, God, shalt call and form anew, 
Where is the place Thou wilt proclaim 
Home of the spirit pure and true ? 

'Twill lie in Abraham's bosom blest, 
As that of Lazarus did of old, 
Whom, wrapt in flowers of heavenly rest, 
Dives in torment did behold. 

Thy words, Redeemer, are our guide, 
In dying triumph said by Thee, 
When to the thief who with Thee died, 
Thou saidst he should Thy glory see. 

And thus the faithful may behold 
The shining path to Paradise, 
And walk that garden grove, of old, 
The Serpent took from human eyes. 

Here we will deck these buried bones 
With violets and garlands fair, 
And on their monumental stones 
Will sprinkle odors fresh and rare. 



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